Has the Grand Ole Party become the Grim Old Party? Robert Novak reports on the current woes of the GOP. Among other things, Novak notes that the Democratic Party has a "commanding lead" over Republicans in fundraising for the 2008 election:

Such an unusual disparity is at once a symptom and a contributing cause of the melancholy suffusing the Grand Old Party as Congress reconvenes after the August break.

As measured by offices held, Republicans have been in much worse shape during my half century of reporting in Washington. Their party was a mere remnant after the Democratic landslides of 1958, 1964 and 1974. But never before have I seen morale within the party so low. While Republican support for an unpopular war has remained remarkably strong, almost all non-war news during the dreary August recess has been bad for the GOP.