Republicans against Rep. Jeff Smith?

MajorityInMS.com has an interesting post up about Republicans in the Columbus area going after Rep. Jeff Smith (D-Columbus). Smith is running as a Democrat for office but will seek the Speaker's chair as an independent. Memorably, Smith ran against House Speaker Billy McCoy (D-Rienzi) in 2008. Smith, supported by a handful of Democrats and every Republican, lost a bitter contest by one vote.

Smith's approach to this upcoming Speaker's race is going to be interesting, especially considering that he is unlikely to gain early support of Republican House members. Currently, there appear to be at least two Republican House members looking seriously at a Speaker's run. (More on that in a subsequent post). In order for Smith to have a shot at obtaining the gavel, he will have to pick off at least one member of the McCoy coalition and Republicans will have to fall short of gaining a majority in the House.

In short, Smith has to hope Republicans fail in their ultimate goal: obtaining a majority in the House. So when Smith is going around talking to Republicans, how does the conversation go from Smith's end? "Hey man, I hope you lose so you can vote for me?"