How the GOP Went Broke

The Republican Party has known crises before, but it's always held its own against the Democrats with fundraising prowess. But the GOP finds itself demoralized and impoverished, and seemingly without the funds needed to avoid more losses like the one suffered Tuesday in Mississippi. Politico looks at how the party alienated business and got left behind in a new political landscape.

Two key acts of legislation—the McCain-Feingold "soft money" ban and the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-crime law—wiped out a $100 million advantage. And the corruption and excesses of the Tom DeLay years turned off business leaders, who started giving more to the Dems. The result: a wholesale political adjustment that one expert said might lead to "one of the worst cycles for Republicans in modern history." (More Republican Party stories.)