GOP abandons its only chance for a senate pickup

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is pulling all of its ads out of Louisiana, where Republican John Kennedy is trying to unseat Democrat Mary Landrieu.

This can only mean that the GOP is so worried about losing seats that it previously considered safe, that it is abandoning its offensive position in the 2008 senatorial elections for a purely defensive posture.

The decision to stop advertising in the race against Landrieu reflects a recognition by the NRSC of the stark financial reality it faces in the fall campaign. The Republican committee has been consistently outraised by its Democratic counterpart and, as the political environment has worsened for the GOP in recent weeks, several Republican senators that appeared safe -- Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) to name two -- have suddenly appeared more vulnerable.

In recent days the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has launched ads in both Kentucky and Georgia and it's not a stretch to imagine the money once earmarked for Louisiana will now make its way to defend those two incumbents.

Kennedy, the state treasurer and a former Democrat, was personally recruited by Karl Rove to challenge Landrieu, once considered the most vulnerable Democratic senator in the country.