2010 Primaries Update
Laura submitted this recent submission by way of RealClearPolitics. Here’s an excerpt:
Here is an update on some 2010 Midterm primaries:
PA-12 — Hafer Drops Out: Former State Treasurer and Auditor General Barbara Hafer is dropping her bid to succeed the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), leaving a mostly clear Democratic path to November for Mark Critz — whom state party leaders already nominated for the May 18 special election. Hafer announced her bid one week after Murtha’s death in early February. However, party leaders preferred Critz, a former Murtha aide.
GA-7 — No Ralph Reed: Former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed announced this morning he will not be running for the open seat in Georgia’s 7th District. Reed drove up speculation in the last day that he would run by announcing a forthcoming announcement. It did, however, draw attention to his work founding the Faith and Freedom Coalition — which he said will work to register “an estimated one million new faith-based voters and make tens of millions of voter contacts” in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
MI-1– Stupak Gets Primaried: Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) is now most well known for leading the charge of pro-life Democrats to include stricter abortion language in the stalled health care reform legislation. Because of this, a Democratic activist named Connie Saltonstall, who is a former Charlevoix County commissioner, has announced she’s challenging him in the primary. “It’s his willingness to not have health care pass over his abortion position that has people like me upset,” Saltonstall said. Stupak represents the Upper Peninsula and 16 of the state’s northernmost counties on the Lower Peninsula.
OH-10 — Kucinich Gets Kos Warning: Liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-Ohio) opposition to the health care bill because it doesn’t go far enough could earn him a Netroots-backed primary challenge, according to DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas. “I don’t think he gets a pass,” Moulitsas said last night on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.” “I don’t care what his excuse is.” Moulitsas, who called the reform bill “a good first step,” compared Kucinich unfavorably to Ralph Nader, who “paved the way for eight years of George Bush” by running against Democrats in presidential elections.