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Mississippi is the Senate race in whichhope springs eternal -- in an almost literal sense of "eternal."

You mightrecall a lot of attention paid to the Republican Senate primary there earlier this year. Incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R) came in a very close second in the initial round of primary voting, only to triumph by a decent margin in the runoff later that month. That result prompted Cochran's opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel to begin a long, weird, futile effort to have himself declared the actual victor.

McDaniel enjoyed enormous support from staunch conservatives and the tea party in the state, many of whom backed him as he continued to say he would fight Cochran's nomination. And on Tuesday, Election Day itself, the board of directors of the South Mississippi Tea Party finally offered an endorsement in the general election race.

It backed Democrat Travis Childers.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, which received the press release,quotes from it liberally (so to speak). The leadership of the state Republican Party's "campaigning FOR big government, excessive spending and cooperation with the Obama Regime is a violation of the Republican platform," it reads in part. Therefore it wants to elect the Democrat, who had the best (tiny) chance of beating Cochran. (Childers lost.) But, it continues, "[i]f you cannot bring yourself to vote for the Democrat then may we suggest you vote for Sean O'Hara (Reform Party candidate)." So, options.

McDaniel, meanwhile, was continuing to press his always-doomed case in the courts as recently as last Friday. The irony, for those who haven't been tracking this closely, is that a key component of that complaint was the charge that Democrats who backed Cochran in the runoff (likely a key aspect of his win) violated a state law mandating that they be committed to backing the winner of the primary in November. An argument could be made that the South Mississippi Tea Party, by backing McDaniel and then switching to Childers, is equally guilty.

We suspect Cochran will let it slide.

Philip Bump writes about politics for The Fix. He previously wrote for The Wire, the news blog of The Atlantic magazine. He has contributed to The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The Daily, and the Huffington Post. Philip is based in New York City.

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The Fix: A Mississippi tea party group backed the Democrat instead of hated Thad Cochran