Tomorrow Is Primary Day

Well... it is for voters in congressional races in Colorado, New York, Oklahoma and Utah. New York is tomorrow's big deal but let's take a quick look at the other state's first. There are no serious primaries for either party in House races in Colorado but there's a hot Senate contest. The state has 5 crackpot Republicans-- down from 15-- competing to face dull corporate Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet, who doesn't deserve reelection but will be judged as the lesser of two evils and will likely be helped by a reaction against-- and revulsion to-- Trump.

As of March 31 Bennet had raised $11,977,673 and spent $4,403,288. The Republicans haven't raised nearly as much-- combined:

• Jack Graham- $1,341,605
• Robert Blaha- $1,096,433
• John Keyser- $400,209
• Ryan Frazier- $352,181
• Darryl Glenn- $45,462

Jim DeMint's far right Senate Conservatives PAC spent $539,355 on Glenn, so his low number is somewhat deceptive. Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin have also been campaigning for him, so that'll give you an idea about who the craziest extremist is in the race. He's a religious nut who brags about an unwillingness to compromise with Democrats-- which may work for a GOP primary, but is a sure-fire losing message in a Colorado general eelction. He also says he won't vote for McConnell to keep his job as GOP leader.

Former Rams quarterback and fired Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham, a former Democrat who is now billing himself as a "pro-Choice Republican," is supposed to be the "moderate" in the race but admits he supports Trump. He self-funded to the tune of $1,000,000, which is what explains why he's so far ahead of the other candidates' war-chests.

State Rep Jon Keyser was supposedly the national GOP establishment pick but he faded quickly, especially after it was discovered he had submitted petitions full of forged signatures to qualify for the ballot and after a widely panned ad accusing Obama and Bennet of wanting to give Iran nuclear weapons.

Robert Blaha is a rich, crooked businessman-- he also self-funded $1,000,000 into his campaign-- running as the Trumpist. He's best known for his TV ads about Hitler and about fist-fucking.



There are no races in Utah worth looking at-- all very status quo in the primaries. With one exception, OK-05, there are no serious primaries in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City congressional seat's freshman incumbent, Steve Russell, is too extreme for the district and in a Trump wipeout he could be vulnerable. There are 3 Democrats running for the endorsement, conservative Al McAffrey, who has nothing to offer and was slaughtered by Russell in 2014, Leona Leonard and progressive champion Tom Guild, the candidate with a clear progressive message to challenge Russell with. He's the Berniecrat in the race-- and in a state that went heavily for Bernie. And Blue America has endorsed him. (You can contribute to his campaign here.)

OK, on to New York. Tragically, democracy isn't vibrant enough in the Empire State for anyone to be challenging Wall Street whore Chuck Schumer. There's a hot primary between two mediocre Democrats in NY-01 at the eastern end of Suffolk County. Lee Zeldin is the incumbent and the two weak corporate Dems duking it out with each other are Dave Calone (New Dem) and Anna Throne-Holst, an independent who is rumored to be screwing Steve Israel and just switched to a Democratic registration. Any of the three promises more bad representation for Suffolk County.

Speaking of Steve Israel, he was forced to quit in order to avoid a likely prison sentence in the criminal case that was hatched by Israel and has already sent Ami Bera's father to prison and will probably see charges against Patrick Murphy and his parents as well. His handpicked replacement is a hack named Steve Stern but there are 4 other Democrats in the race as well, including Berniecrat Jonathan Clarke and likely winner Tom Suozzi.

If there is one New York House incumbent whose over-the-top corruption cries out for a primary opponent it's Gregory Meeks in NY-05 (Queens) and Ali Mirza is running against him. As of March 31 Meeks had spent $629,896 and Mirza had spent $21,559.

Progressive icon Jerry Nadler is being challenged by a gay bankster fronting Jewish extremists in Brooklyn who oppose peace with Iran, Oliver Rosenberg. In a low turn-out election, the right-wing Democrats hope they can turn out enough zombie-like Hassidics to beat Nadler but that's highly unlikely with as unattractive a candidate as Rosenberg.

Ken covered the race to replace Charlie Rangel in NY-13 (Harlem) last week here. There isn't anyone good in the race.

Out of New York City there are two crucial primaries pitting stellar Berniecrats, Zephyr Teachout (NY-19) and Eric Kingson (NY-24) against run-of-the-mill uninspiring Democratic careerists. Teachout and Kingson are two of Blue America's top candidates for 2016 but both have to win their primaries tomorrow in order to go on to November. Teachout looks like a shoe-in against some guy named Will Yandik. Kingson, the founder of SocialSecurityWorks, and a Bernie appointee on the Democratic Convention platform committee, is up against a low level Kirsten Gillibrand staffer, Colleen Deacon, running on the platform of "I woman" and some guy Steve Israel dug up, Steve Williams.

As of the March 31 FEC filing deadline fundraising among the 3 Democrats was neck-and-neck but after Bernie endorsed Kingson 2 weeks ago small contributions started flooding in for him and he is probably out ahead in fundraising now. The only outside spending so far has been from Blue America, $14,500 for a mobile track (photo above) and I believe another couple thousand for a Google ad:



If you live in the Upper Hudson Valley and the Catskills, please remember to go vote for Zephyr Teachout tomorrow, and in the Syracuse area of Central New York, Eric Kingson. You can find both at the thermometer below: