Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

The House

There are at least two dozen challengers to Republican incumbents or Beltway-endorsed candidates. Some of them are more serious than others: for example, in Columbus, Ohio, a conservative has decided to run as a third-party candidate for the House because he says there's little difference between Democratic incumbent Mary Jo Kilroy and her leading Republican opponent, Steve Stivers. And in Virginia, freshman Democrat Tom Perriello has been delighted to see his main GOP opponent labeled a "RINO" — a Republican in Name Only — by a conservative challenger. Perhaps the most vulnerable to conservative anger at the GOP fumbling of the past eight years is Ethan Hastert. The heir apparent to the seat his father, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, once held, Ethan is facing at least three primary challengers who have been vocal in taking out their anger at the GOP establishment on the younger Hastert.