On Tuesday, in additional to their presidential primaries, Texas and Ohio will host congressional primaries. Here are a few of the key races to watch:
- OH-02 (GOP): Will Mean Jean Schmidt survive her primary against state Rep. Todd Brinkman? Let’s hope so!
- OH-02 (Dem): Will voters give Victoria Wulsin, a doctor who narrowly lost to Schmidt in the general last time, a second shot? Or will they instead turn to attorney Steve Black?
- OH-10 (Dem): Can Dennis Kucinich hang on in a crowded primary? Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, regarded as Special K’s main challenger, channelled the best of the Club for Growth in accusing Kucinich of “eating sushi with Sean Penn.” Meanwhile, Dennis – who once explained his refusal to pay his DCCC dues by saying “Some people make a lot of money for the party, others make a lot of issues” – has managed to rake in $800K for his campaign coffers now that his political career is on the line.
- OH-18 (GOP): I’m almost reluctant to include this race. The Republicans targeted Zack Space the day he got elected. The problem is, they don’t have a candidate who rates higher than “extremely pathetic” on the official Sad-Sack Scale. None have raised more than about $100K, while Space has raked in $1.2 million. Well, we’ll get to find out who gets to be the sacrifical lamb here.
- TX-10 (Dem): Who will get to take on the under-performing Mike McCaul, international affairs consultant (and regular netroots participant) Dan Grant, or attorney and TV judge Larry Joe Doherty?
- TX-22 (GOP): A huge field of wannabees are lining up to challenge Rep. Nick Lampson. Amazingly, after her embarrasing two-month stint as representative after winning the special election in 2006, Shelly Sekula-Gibbs (aka Snelly Gibbr) has hauled in a million bucks. I’m certainly rooting for her!
What other races are you looking at?
The two outcasts from the Presidential race try to hold in to their seats in the House. It’s Paul vs. Peden in a race that hasn’t gotten much pub here but is undoubtedly interesting. Republicans have shown a strong tendency to oust any critics of Bush (see Wayne Gilchrest in MD, Hagel’s forced “retirement in Nebraska). Will another opponent bite the dust? Whither Walter Jones in North Carolina. Walter, too, drew a pro-war primary opponent.
Of course, Dennis’s struggle got more attention both here and at OpenLeft.
Shelley Sekula Gibbs just brings up so many versions of Steve Kagen’s alleged comment to Karl Rove. Most revolve around, “I’m Dr. Multi-millionaire and I AM an a**. ” Others evolve downward from there.
I am confident that if Lampson can be reelected once to this seat, he can hold it for a long time to come.
He and Sean Penn must have got the avocado and cucumber rolls
Those are two interesting races for me. I think Dennis has his seat locked up but I haven’t seen any polling or anything for Paul’s race.