This is a red state, he came in on Election Eve and he had no discernible effect. If anything, he may have cost Kilgore some votes.

It should have been a blow-away. It wasn't just any congressional race ? it was a race during Bush's summer of sorrow and it came in a state that was ground zero for '04 and possibly will be for '08.

It's been a very successful term. It's hard to describe it any other way. He came in at a tough time. There was no money. The Republicans had just taken a landslide in the legislature. Things didn't look good. But he worked through the problems and ended up triumphant. It's a storybook ending. I didn't see that coming. Frequently these businessmen governors who've never been elected to anything before, flop. So he's the exception.

There's no way to spin this than anything other than a major defeat for Republicans and for President Bush. This is a red state, he came in on Election Eve and he had no discernible effect. ... If anything, he may have cost Kilgore some votes.