Let the Primary Challenges Begin!

With all eyes on The Five Goobers from Demsville, those five Democrats in the NC House who apparently promised the Republicans that they would vote to override Gov. Perdue's veto of the budget, it was bound to happen: among the disapproving gazes are some from rivals willing to challenge them in primary elections next year.

The first such (possible) primary challenger: Dr. Benjamin Chavis, a nationally recognized Civil Rights leader who also happens to be from Oxford, N.C., in Goober Jim Crawford's House district. (Crawford is 2nd from left in the photo array above.)

Laura Leslie has additional biographical info on Chavis, along with a statement about what he's contemplating and why: "I am very concerned that some of my fellow Democrats are now supporting a regressive and terrible state budget proposal. I hope that Representative Crawford and other Democrats in the legislature will represent the will of all the people of NC more effectively."