Here's tonight's rundown on the Congressional races: It wasn't a good day for the GOP, with a mixture of legal defeat, the wrong candidate winning the nomination for a key seat, and tough counter-attacks from the Dems.

Democrats Win Court Battle In Mississippi Senate Race
In a surprise victory for the Dems, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled against the efforts by GOP Gov. Haley Barbour to bury the hotly-contested special election for Senate at the bottom of the physical ballot used on Election Day, where lower-information voters might have overlooked it. Oddly enough, though, the court declined to issue a formal order that Barbour must change the ballot, but only threatened to issue one if he did not comply from here on out.

Late Update: Barbour's office says he will comply with the ruling.

NY Conservatives: No, We're Not Nominating Fossella
A leader of the New York Conservative Party is ruling out the possibility of subbing in scandal-plagued retiring Rep. Vito Fossella (R) as their new nominee for Congress. "No, absolutely not," said Brooklyn party chairman Jerry Kassar, in an interview with Election Central. "He is not under consideration, nor has he requested consideration."

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Here comes a massive wave of TV ads from Democrats. The DCCC has just pumped a staggering $3.8 million into nearly two dozen House races across the country, new filings with the Federal Election show. The cash — all of which was plunked down this week — will fund first-time media buys against incumbent Connecticut Republican Nancy Johnson and on behalf of Peter Welch, the Dem running to defend the Vermont seat of Dem-favoring Independent Bernie Sanders, as well as funding ads in hard-fought races in roughly a dozen other states.

Vermont is witnessing a mirror image of the national GOP strategy to tie Dem candidates to Nancy Pelosi—with Republican candidate Martha Rainville trying to hedge on voting for Dennis Hastert. The Bennington Banner reports that at last night's debate Rainville wouldn't give a straight answer on who she'd support for Speaker, saying it would be for a Republican but that "I am not sure who that vote will be right now because I am not sure who is running." Welch and Rainville have been running close, so watch for Rainville to do more to dodge identification with her national party in this blue state.

Martha Rainville, the GOP nominee for Bernie Sanders’s House seat, has now called for Congressional term limits. The last time this was a major rallying cry for Republicans was 1994 – and a lot of those candidates later broke their pledges. The idea is simply a non-starter because it requires the votes of members of Congress who have themselves served for ages. Furthermore, it's quite interesting to see a Republican running this year on the idea that there's too much entrenched power in Washington.