Suffice it to say that June 3 was the Republican Party's terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.
Senate Races
NM-Sen: The bitterly contested primary between Reps. Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson on the Republican side is over, and by the skin of his teeth, Pearce has won.
We can officially thank Wilson for vacating her House seat for a failed U.S. Senate run. It won't be long until we can say the same of Pearce, as he is a massive underdog to Democrat Tom Udall in the general election.
The latest polling shows Pearce trailing Udall by an almost incredible margin, 60% to 35%. The result speaks for itself, and indicates that it would take a cataclysmic event for Udall to lose this race.
I suppose that if Heather Wilson had been the nominee, the GOP would have had a candidate who was at least theoretically "moderate", which might have helped them close this gap. But Pearce is the same exact kind of proud right-winger the nation seems so intent on kicking out this year.
This race has been "Leans Democratic" ever since Udall entered, and I see no reason to change that. In fact, I think it would be fair to call it "Likely Democratic" at this point.
MT-Sen: You've got to hand it to the GOP, they've got a natural instinct for hilarity.
Their latest gem, as Georgia10 wrote earlier, is the nomination of 85-year-old perennial candidate Bob Kelleher to serve as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Montana.
Kelleher, an 85-year-old attorney from Butte, will challenge Democrat incumbent Max Baucus in November. Baucus is a five-term U.S. senator who had more than $6 million in the bank in May and has raised more than $10 million since he was last re-elected in 2002.
Kelleher, who has run for office in the state at least 13 times, has not filed any campaign finance reports, meaning he has not raised or spent more than $5,000 in the race.
But wait...it gets better.
The new nominee's views are far from the mainstream Republican party in Montana. He has run as both a Democratic and a Green Party candidate, and he has advocated more gun control. Kelleher did not return several calls seeking comment on Election Night.
If you've been waiting all your life for politics to be fun again, you've got your wish.
Some cold comfort for Republicans is that in the Montana House race, Democrats nominated John Driscoll, who is another elderly, underfunded perennial candidate, although Driscoll did serve as MT House Speaker in the 1970s.
The GOP, starved for pickup opportunities, had hoped to throw up a Hail Mary candidate against Baucus, and see how things turned out. Now, it seems they won't even have that small pleasure. Democrats haven't been seriously worried about Baucus for quite some time, and now there's no reason to sweat at all.
NJ-Sen: As expected, Senator Frank Lautenberg won a commanding victory in the NJ Senate primary over Rep. Rob Andrews, despite a primary campaign that was, shall we say, not entirely pleasant.
Some comfort for Rep. Andrews is that he'll almost certainly be able to go back to Congress. His wife Camille won the Democratic primary for his seat as a placeholder, and is expected to decline the nomination, which would likely lead to her husband being selected to run for his own seat.
He faces off against former Rep. Dick Zimmer, last seen losing his previous Senate race in 1996 to Robert Torricelli. Unfortunately, after losing pretty much everyone on their A, B and C lists, the GOP was forced to turn to Zimmer as their savior.
Zimmer, however, barely beat back Assemblyman Joseph Pennachio in his primary, 46% to 40%. National Republicans left no stone unturned in trying to deny Pennachio the nomination, even turning at one point to famed nightclub owner Andy Unanue. And on their fourth try, it seems, they finally got the guy who could do it in Dick Zimmer.
Now, he just has to figure out a way to beat Frank Lautenberg, who has been targeted time and again by the GOP, frequently by far more impressive candidates, and has always won.
New Jersey really is the Republicans' great white whale.
House Races
CA-04: With the exception of NM-Sen and the Presidential primaries, the Republican race here was probably the most-watched race of yesterday.
It was a hell of a ride, almost like watching an Ultimate Fighting Championship match. If you like watching Republicans rip each other, this was an excellent race to follow.
But all things must pass, and the GOP now has a single candidate. Fortunately for us, that candidate is Conservative Icon Tom McClintock.
McClintock is a perennial candidate who has lost previous bids for U.S. House, California State Controller, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor of California.
He is a proud hard-line conservative who earned a well-deserved reputation in the California State Assembly as a right-wing demagogue, and has long been a thorn in the side of Governors from his own party, like Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He has also carpetbagged all the way from Thousand Oaks in Ventura County (a full 400 miles from the district) to run in CA-04.
Facing him is Democrat Charlie Brown, who lost by three points to Rep. John Doolittle in 2006. Brown trails McClintock in fundraising, but apparently leads in polling, and will have no shortage of opportunities to contrast himself with a man who proudly represents himself as a traditional right-wing Republican.
With a PVI of nearly R+11, this district is very difficult to win, even against a wingnut perennial-candidate carpetbagger. But Brown has proven his electoral viability, he is well-liked in the district, and he stands as good a chance as we could reasonably hope for at winning this very red seat.
In fact, even lifelong Republicans are taking a serious look at Charlie Brown.
Mr. Brown is hoping the bruising battle between the two Republicans, combined with his military background and conservative leanings, will pave the way for him among voters like Jerry Kopp, 65, a print and sign shop owner in Auburn.
Mr. Kopp described himself as a conservative who was undecided between Mr. Ose and Mr. McClintock, but added that he had respect for Mr. Brown. "I like Charlie Brown," he said. "If all Democrats were like Charlie Brown, I could probably vote for Charlie Brown."
CA-11: Quick note about Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney in CA-11; he received fewer votes in his primary yesterday than his Republican opponent, Dean Andal, did in his.
This isn't terrible news, and it may not mean much...but it's hardly thrilling, either. I'd consider McNerney's race "lean-Dem/tossup", and he is certainly one of the most endangered Democrats this cycle.
AL-02: Democrat Bobby Bright won his primary, but the Republican primary is still up in the air, with a runoff to be held between Republicans Jay Love and Harri Anne Smith.
Rumor has it that Bright is currently leading both Love and Smith in head-to-head matchups, despite being in a crimson R+13 district. If the runoff gets ugly, it could provide a further boost to Bright.
I am fervently hoping that Harri Anne Smith wins her primary.
Yes, it is about time those damned billionaire Middle Eastern iol sheiks show us some gratitude by lowering their oil prices...
AL-05: Democrat Parker Griffith handily won the primary race for the nomination to fill Dem Bud Cramer's seat.
His opponent will be either two-time loser Wayne Parker, who way only just forced into a runoff, or his fellow Repub Cheryl Guthrie.
Parker received more votes in his primary than all the Republicans put together, and he has a legitimate base of support as a State Senator, so I feel quite good about his chances this fall.
CA-26: Democrat Russ Warner won his primary over 2006 candidate Cynthia Matthews, redeeming himself for his 2006 loss.
The DCCC has put CA-26 on their list of races to watch, despite the formidable presence of powerful Republican David Dreier. I assume this is a statement of belief in Warner's candidacy, and I'm glad that even big names like Dreier are being seriously targeted.
The district leans Republican, but is theoretically winnable; though it is likely-to-safe Republican at this point, it's exciting to be going after some of the GOP's power brokers.
IA-03: Leonard Boswell won his primary. Nothing to see here; he should be reelected fairly easily.
Source: Written by Brownsox of Daily Kos
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