For What It's Worth...

Duly noted ... the Tea Party crowing in NC House Dist. 6 that they beat the "Thom Tillis machine" out of Raleigh:

...it is highly likely that the biggest loser yesterday DownEast was Thom Tillis and his ambitions to be U. S. Senator. He stirred up a massive amount of passion with redistricting, ferry tolls and meddling in local primaries. Whether he can redeem himself among the GOP base will likely depend on how he operates going forward and particularly going into November. If he and his staff continue to blunder as they have over the last year it is possible that the GOP may lose its majority in the House. That's how upset many grassroots Republicans and unaffiliated voters are.

Meanwhile, the Ultimate Tea Partier John Tedesco, the under-educated and over-caffeinated former member of the Wake County School Board, won the second Republican primary yesterday to run against State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson. Apparently, Mr. Tedesco's forestalled plans to dismantle Raleigh's school system only fueled his ambition to dismantle the entire State of North Carolina's school system. Meanwhile, Mr. Tedesco's Center for Education Reform appears to be mainly a website meant to support Mr. Tedesco.

The Tea Party did less well in other second primary races. For example, Richard Hudson won against dentist Scott Keadle in the 8th Congressional District. Hudson will now face incumbent Dem Larry Kissell. Keadle was extravagantly backed by the Club for Growth, which reportedly poured over $700,000 into his campaign. Keadle now has the distinction (call it the "Vernon Robinson Halo") of being a three-time Congressional loser, in three different Congressional districts.

Retiring Congresswoman Sue Myrick's baby boy Dan Forrest won against Tony Gurley for the Republican Lt. Gov. nomination. Gurley will presumably go back to being a Wake County commissioner.

Scott Keadle, Resurrected

You're forgiven if you've forgotten the name Scott Keadle. He's the Iredell County dentist and former one-term County Commissioner who was one of two Republican primary challengers against Little Patty McHenry in the NC10 in 2010.

Now, according to this Republican site, he's planning to run in another Republican primary totally out of his district, the NC8, potentially to challenge incumbent blue-dog Democrat Larry Kissell.

Despite some expensive Republican hired guns he's enlisted, just what is the track record of candidates running in congressional districts where they don't live?

Futility = A Republican Primary in the NC-10

Incumbent Munchkin Patty McHenry in the NC-10 has little cash on hand, widespread pockets of horror at his very being in his own district, and two Republican primary rivals on the May 4th ballot. If he had one of those two challengers, he might be in trouble, since all the disaffection for McHenry could coalesce around one opponent. But two? Fuggetaboutit!

One of those two challengers has self-financed to the tune of $485,000. The other one, a mere $250,000.

But that's a lot of combined scratch to throw down a rathole. And neither challenger has shown any willingness to attack McHenry or even to draw sharp distinctions between themselves and the incumbent. (Oh, one of the two challengers suggests that McHenry is too liberal -- I'm not making this up -- without being specific about that.)

So far, that primary in the NC-10 is a colossal waste of time and a massive waste of money.

When $248,000 + $260,000 = Zero

Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10) has less cash on hand than either of his two Republican primary challengers.

Sorry, but it won't matter. Keadle and Patterson will divide the anti-McHenry vote between them, will elbow each other for advantage while failing to draw sharp distinctions between themselves and McHenry, and McHenry will waltz right through another primary.

'Course, nothing would tickle us more than to be proven wrong about this.

The Bull's Eye on Patrick McHenry

A tea-party-allied group calling itself Change the Congress is targeting NC-10 Congressman Patrick McHenry.

Change the Congress was founded and is run by Catherine Welborn, an anti-tax South Carolinian. The Charleston Post & Courier did a lengthy profile on her last August. What's clear is that she's "non-partisan," insofar as she's willing to organize against Republican incumbents if they're deemed impure on the question of taxes and spending.

She has a Facebook fan page, "small-r republicans," which has grown to over 600. Yesterday Welborn posted this attack on Patrick McHenry and endorsed one of McHenry's primary challengers, Salisbury dentist Scott Keadle.

Attacking Patrick McHenry from his right is mildly amusing. But this attack is fueled by the throw-all-the-bums-out adrenalin now pumping in the context of Scott Brown's Massachusetts Senate victory. Which, if I were Patrick McHenry (and trust me: I thank Gawd every day that I'm not), I might spend at least 15 minutes of my week worrying ... especially given my dismal recent fundraising.

McHenry's Other Republican Primary Challenger

Scott Keadle, a dentist and first-term Iredell County Commissioner, is the other major Republican challenger to incumbent Republican Congressman Patty McHenry (at least, so far as we've heard).

Keadle gave an interview to Larry Clark in the Hickory Daily Record (published this a.m.), and he's positioning himself as critical of both major parties:

"Neither [Democrats nor Republicans] did anything about the budget. Neither group did anything to stop subprime lending that wrecked banking and hurt the economy. Neither party has done anything about illegal immigration. And neither one has lived up to the ethical and moral standards of the people. They're a perpetual embarrassment. All I've heard is talk, no matter which party is in control."

The issue is McHenry's incumbency: "I'm tired of hearing bad ideas from Democrats and excuses from Republicans. We don't need career politicians who care more about themselves than the people they are supposed to serve."

If incumbency is a negative for Patrick McHenry, it's also a negative for Virginia Foxx. A partisan hack who loves the limelight thrown off by the likes of Michele Bachmann ain't no bargain for the unemployed and uninsured people of the 5th District. What Keadle says about McHenry applies just as much to our own Bobblehead.

Republican Trouble in Patrick McHenry's House

Vance Patterson of Morganton, who announced back last October that he would challenge incumbent 10th Dist. Republican Patty McHenry in the 2010 primary, has now opened an office in Morganton and hired staff.

The saving grace for the perennially embattled McHenry is that there's yet a third Republican who says he's running in the primary, a Salisbury dentist named Scott Keadle. In other words, all the anti-McHenry Republican votes get divided between two challengers, and McHenry sails through the primary.

Patterson's candidacy may be more entertaining than the dentist's, since he defines himself as a "serial entrepreneur" and has hired the reigning Miss Greater Wilmington as his fundraiser.