Twp new articles analyze a shift away from the GOP in traditional Republican strongholds that does not augur well for Republican hopes of retaining control of the House. The San Francisco Chronicle has an article out today, portraying voter disillusionment with President Bush in the usually conservative state of Missouri as an important bellwether for the rest of the country. Specifically, the race for the Senate seat between Republican incumbent Jim Talent and Democrat Claire McCaskill is seen as, “the purest test in the country of any tidal wave against Republicans in general, and President Bush in particular,” according to political scientist Dave Robertson of the University of Missouri in St. Louis. Forbes looks at recent trends in voter registration and patterns in several of Philadelphia’s wealthy—and usually Republican—suburbs. Not surprisingly, anger over the War in Iraq is the key factor that is turning voters away from the GOP. In Missouri a lifelong Republican is quoted as saying, “I’ve been a Republican, but I don’t plan to vote for any Republican this year because I’m so disillusioned with the Bush Administration…It was the rush into the war above all else.” Similar attitudes are on display in the Philly suburbs where the war is uniting what were once disparate social and demographic groups against the President. Whether these shifts in voter attitudes will translate into Democratic gains in the House and Senate remains to be seen.