So Nine Republicans Walk Into a Bar...

Seeing Republicans branded as Democrats is old hat if you can stand to watch FOX News; they have a nasty habit of showing Republicans in trouble with a 'D' after their name rather than the correct 'R.'

But this is something new:

But this year President George W. Bush, the country's leading Republican, is making a last-minute campaign stop in Kansas, where at least nine candidates running on the November 7 ballot are Republicans-turned-Democrats. They include a veteran county prosecutor seeking to unseat the Republican attorney general and a former state Republican Party chairman running as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.

That 'R' after their name has become radioactive.