Rep. Tom Cole's authority as head of the House GOP's campaign committee is being curtailed in the wake of three defeats in red House districts, defeats which threatened his job security as NRCC chair.

A Republican source tells Election Central that Cole and Minority Leader John Boehner announced to the House GOP Conference several changes in approach -- most notably that two auditors will be appointed to provide oversight over the committee.

Their identities haven't been finalized yet, but it's believed that they will be Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, a former NRCC chairman who has been very critical of the state of the House GOP, and Rep. Pat Tiberi of Ohio.

While Cole is not being ousted from his position, as some observers speculated might happen after the Mississippi loss last week, the appointment of the two auditors can hardly be taken as a vote of confidence in his performance by Boehner and the rest of the GOP.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel downplayed the implication that this was a move against Cole. "Rep. Boehner and Rep. Cole are working together to figure out the best way to accomplish their shared goal of electing more Republicans to the House," Steel told Election Central in an e-mail.

Also, the leadership will now be taking sides in select primaries, a big change from the policy of committed neutrality practiced up until now by Cole.

The new efforts to take sides in the late-season Congressional primaries will have to be undertaken in a discreet fashion, with individual members doing fundraising as opposed to the committee helping out in name. "There's a very acute awareness of being careful of ever anointing a candidate as quote unquote 'Washington candidate,'" the source told us.

House Republicans were damaged by three defeats in once-solid districts: Former Speaker Dennis Hastert's Illinois district in March, former Rep. Richard Baker's Louisiana seat on May 3, and appointed Sen. Roger Wicker's old House seat in Mississippi last week.