Proxy Fight

Joe "You Lie!" Wilson has raised a very impressive $750,000 in campaign contributions since Wednesday night, but his Democratic opponent Rob Miller has raised an even more impressive $1 million in 48 hours.

To put this fund-raising haul in perspective, Wilson, by early next week, could equal the total amount of money he raised in the entire two-year-election cycle of 2008, when he raised a little more than $1.1 million.

Miller, by contrast, raised just $390,000 in donations for the entire 2008 cycle and lent himself another $235,000 of his own money, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. So he's already doubled, in just two days, his total donations over a two-year period.

The controversy will definitely go on through the weekend, as Wilson -- a quiet backbench lawmaker who's never been in the national spotlight -- is scheduled to appear on the Sunday morning news show "Fox News Sunday." If he continues to refuse to make a public apology on the House floor, Democrats plan to offer a resolution admonishing his comments to Obama.

After liberal Internet activists turned Miller into a cause celebre in their effort to extract revenge on Wilson, conservatives joined the fray. Wilson, who hired GOP web strategist David All, now has ads running on conservative-leaning web sites such as the Drudge Report.

However as Mark Silva points out, Wilson may have gotten onto the national map and certainly upped his cred among the base and he's certainly won the publicity battle...but may end up losing the war in 2010.

Wilson and Miller are virtually tied in a new survey run by Public Policy Polling - 44-43 - in the aftermath of the shout-out. Nearly two-thirds of voters in Wilson's district say they disapproved of Wilson's action.

"In a matter of seconds Joe Wilson turned himself from a safe incumbent into one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country for 2010," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling.

Joe Wilson picked this fight, folks. Now he's definitely going to get one. We'll see how long this momentum lasts for both Joe Miller and Rob Wilson, but they now have a couple million between the two of them in just a few days to wage that war with. A few more outbursts like this and the Dems may not be as doomed as everyone thinks they are next year.