Cole said Wednesday morning that no major changes were in the works at the NRCC yet. | John Shinkle/POLITICO GOP scrambles after Mississippi loss

Republican House leaders are scrambling to contain the damage after a third straight special election loss, with NRCC Chairman Tom Cole putting the blame on the party’s public image and former NRCC Chairman Tom Davis warning of a bloodbath in November if members can’t divorce themselves from the “brand” put on their party by President Bush.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner told reporters Wednesday morning that he expected a Republican leadership meeting later in the day would focus on “changes that may be necessary in order to adapt to the environment that we are dealing with.”


But sources who attended the “awkward” leadership meeting said that not one word was said about the GOP’s electoral woes or the steps party leaders might take to address them.

Other sources have talked of the possibility of replacing Cole with Davis, who has been critical of the party and of Cole’s handling of its congressional campaign arm. But it’s not clear what Davis, who is retiring from Congress, would gain from the job, and it’s even less clear that Boehner would want him to have it.

Boehner said Wednesday morning that he had “no preconceived ideas” about how the party should respond to Tuesday’s special election in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District, a conservative stronghold where Democrat Travis Childers cruised to an eight-point win over Republican Greg Davis despite more than $1 million in NRCC spending and a visit from Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cole said Wednesday morning that no major changes were in the works at the NRCC yet – but he stressed the word “yet.” On a conference call later with reporters, he insisted that the Republican Party itself – and not NRCC strategy – was responsible for the Mississippi loss and earlier defeats in Republican districts in Louisiana and Illinois.

“When you lose three of these in a row, you have to go beyond campaign tactics,” Cole said. “A large segment of the American public doesn't have confidence in the Republican Party to deal with the issues in front of us. What we have to do is look in the mirror bit and ask how we lost our way."

Davis downplayed rumors of a coup Wednesday but distributed a “Where We Stand Today” memo in which he said the three special election losses were “canaries in the coal mine, warning of far greater losses in the fall, if steps are not taken to remedy the current climate.”

“The political atmosphere facing House Republicans this November is the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than the fall of 2006, when we lost 30 seats (and our majority) and came within a couple of percentage points of losing another 15 seats,” Davis wrote. “Whether measured by polls, open seats, money, voter registration, generic ballot, presidential popularity or issues, our party faces a steep climb to maintain our current numbers.”

Davis warned that the Republicans could lose 19 more seats in November if they don’t find a way to reinvent their brand, which he said is now “an albatross to our members.”

“We don’t need to abandon long-held principles, but we do need to understand our shortcomings and make appropriate adjustments,” Davis wrote. “It starts with the brand, and the brand is Bush. “

Davis said that Sen. John McCain, by contrast, won’t “drag anyone down” but can’t “carry anyone over the finish line,” either.

Tim Grieve contributed to this report.