Ed Kilgore, at the Washington Monthly, has a tipsheet:
Since congressional Republicans seem to have decided they’re going to be out doing errands between now and the time they hunker down for the 2014 general elections, us news-watchers and bloviators have a large stake in paying attention to the scattered party primaries that will occur during the course of the year—especially those Senate contests on the Republican side that could screw up the GOP’s drive for Senate control, or tilt their Conference further to the Right, or both.
So it’s prudent to take a look at the calendar.
The first actual primary is in Texas on March 4. Sen. John Cornyn’s right-wing challenger, the erratic Rep. Steve Stockman, has run a really bad campaign and no one thinks the potentially vulnerable Cornyn is in any real trouble (the most competitive Texas primary probably involves 90-year-old Rep. Sam Hall, who is trying to hang on for one more term).
The primary calendar really doesn’t heat up until May. On May 6, North Carolina’s Senate primary revolves around Establishment GOP favorite Thom Tillis’ struggle to reach the 40% necessary to avoid a July 15 runoff against a large field in which the challenger to watch could be self-proclaimed “constitutional conservative” Greg Brannon…
Steve in the ATL
Mitch McConnell’s tea bagger challenger, Matt Bevin, was a college classmate of mine. I hope he comes to the reunion right after he loses the primary. I don’t remember his being that big a tool in college; maybe he took a dark turn after the bell factory burned down.
Amir Khalid
I guess John Cornyn must have no worries about his primary opponent, and campaign money to burn, if he’s targeting ads at lil ol’ me in Malaysia.
Yatsuno
@Steve in the ATL: I actually want him to lose. Yertle does worse against Grimes than Bevin does.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Being stationed at Ft Polk couldn’t have done him any good.
chopper
oh jesus, fuck election years right to fucking hell.
WaterGirl
@chopper: That’s not quite how I might have worded that myself, but I can’t say I disagree at all!
Baud
@chopper:
That’s the attitude that got us into this mess.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Amir Khalid: Click the link and see if you can get him in trouble for campaign finance violations.
chopper
@Baud:
I’ll crawl over glass to vote agin’ the GOP this year. but I’m not looking forward to the time preceding that day.
time to put the TV in the garage.
Hal
Great guy. Was a Dem until 2004.
EDIT: He also apparently rolls out the “this is my last time running” before every election.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/todd-j-gillman/20140126-rep.-ralph-hall-vows-this-re-election-race-is-his-last.-really.-no-really..ece
Baud
@chopper:
Good. Because that’ll probably be a voting requirement in a few red states
ralphb
Rep Ralph Hall may have called himself a Democrat before 2004 but he voted solid Republican for decades before. He wouldn’t vote for a Democrat as Speaker, always voted for the Republican. Huge racist asshat!
mdblanche
@Hal: Given that the President’s term ends on 1/20/17 and the next Congress’ term ends on 1/3/17, he’ll need two more terms to see Obama out of DC. As for being around for a Republican president, I doubt a nonagenarian can live that long.
Turgidson
Looks like there will be a handful of chances for the GOP to shoot themselves in the foot with weaponized teabags and piss away a couple more winnable Senate seats. We can hope.
NotMax
Gotta admire his gumption.
Liberty60
OT-
Boehner: “I’d rather kill myself than vote for a minimum wage increase.”
America: “Your offer is acceptable.”
Fuzzy
@Liberty60: Let them all hang themselves so the minimum wage goes up. Naw the poor white rural dumbshits would vote for a dead man just spite agin that Prez.
shelly
More proof that Christie’s bloom is off the rose? Even NewsMax has a negative article about him.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Big tent. Very big tent.
Kay
I’m just doing the Ohio governor’s race. It’s fairly cut and dried. In this county, he needs 8000 votes.
The rest of you, along with the other 87 counties in Ohio, are on your own :)
Education is the second most important issue in polling, and I think people mean “education funding”, which Kasich has cut. Also, he loathes “government schools”.
I have informed Mr. FitzGerald, the challenger, of this potentially great issue for him but I’m not 100% sure he was listening although obviously I’m right :)
Cervantes
@ralphb: Hall also voted to impeach Clinton and then endorsed Bush (against Gore) in 2000.
Gretchen
Here in Kansas, Sen. Pat Roberts is being challenged by Obama’s teabagger cousin, Michael Wolf. Wolf is gaining traction on the discovery that Roberts doesn’t live here. His voting address was a house he rented out, while he voted absentee from his home in Virginia? How is that not voter fraud? Our Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, is the king of voter fraud pursuit, but not a peep out of him. I don’t think there’s a Democrat lined up to run if the teabagger wins, though. Unfortunately, Wolf is very handsome and will look good in ads.