Of Primary Concern

 

 Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) isn't the only one with an opponent (Liz Cheney) to deal with next year.   Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate minority leader,  also will be facing opposition.  In fact, they're already facing it.  The free ride South Carolina Republicans have given Graham came to a jerky halt as two opponents declared their intentions to run.  And there's a third waiting in the wings. 

 

 Nancy Mace— first female graduate of The Citadel, in 1999—operates her own public relations firm in Charleston these days.  She's married, with children, and used all the right buzz words in announcing her candidacy:  Ronald Reagan, freedom, national pride.  No previous public service—which could appeal to the Tea Party base in the Palmetto State.

 

Ms. Mace seems to have most of the oxygen in these early days.  I've heard little about  candidate Richard Cash, except that he's a businessman who ran unsuccessfully for the House at some point.  Then there's the possibility State Senator Lee Bright could get into the Primary mix, too. 

 

Senator Graham, the occasionally-reasonable senior senator from Easley, SC no doubt will be defending certain votes, accusations of "cooperating with the Obama administration," and who knows what else?  But he also has over six million dollars in his campaign account.  Not too shabby for startup cash.    This race could get interesting. 

 

"Down in Kentucky, the horseshoes are lucky. . . ." and one Kentucky senator will need luck in the year ahead.   Senator Mitch McConnell, whose funeral-director demeanor disguises a ruthless fighter, will meet fellow Republican Matt Bevin in a Primary.  Then, the Primary winner will get a run for his (considerable, I'm sure) money from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.  

 

I watched clips from yesterday's 133rd Fancy Farm event in the Bluegrass State.   Washington Post columnist and author Dan Balz said the gathering made him think of the raucousness one can witness in the halls of Parliament.  And from the video clips, it looked like all three candidates brought their best game to Fancy Farm.  I walked in the room as McConnell said something on the telly about Alison Grimes' father.  Without even knowing exactly what he said, I'd bet it might swing some women's votes to Grimes.  Matt Bevin, McConnell's primary challenger, appears to be an attractive, high-energy candidate, saying he wouldn't run to the left or the right of McConnell but "run right over the top of Mitch McConnell" into the halls of the United States Senate.  Ms. Grimes addressed Sen. McConnell's beyond-belief obstructionism, saying:  "If a doctor told Senator McConnell he had a kidney stone, he'd refuse to pass it." 

 

From what I hear, this race promises to be down-and-dirty, like the track at Churchill Downs after a big rain—mud, mud, mud.   What with the grass already blue in Kentucky, it just might go all-blue.  And why not?   There's a new development on the horizon that adds to my bright hope for other Southern states to turn blue—in my lifetime.  I'll talk about the new multi-state pac in the next post.  Stay tuned, you "elitist,  latte drinking" Lefties.  I sure do love you.