The GOP is dead! Long live the GOP!

As Arlen Specter switches parties, Susan Estrich eulogizes the Republicans and James Carville predicts that Democrats will rule Washington for 40 years, Rasmussen presents some contradictory evidence.

For just the second time in more than five years of daily or weekly tracking, Republicans now lead Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 41% would vote for their district’s Republican candidate while 38% would choose the Democrat. Thirty-one percent (31%) of conservative Democrats said they would vote for their district’s Republican candidate.

Only time will tell. If they can't find some better candidates than Arlen Specter, and don't stop trying to outspend the Democrats, the GOP will, indeed, be dead - and they will have earned their fate.