Half-baked campaign

Well, you gotta say this about Rich Carter: If the kid is going down, he's going down swinging.

During last night's debate, Carter and Jim Esch were able to ask each other a question. Esch tossed a softball to Carter who swatted it away. And what does Carter do? He asks Esch if he'll take a drug test, just like many federal employees have to do.

Afterwards, Carter ambushed Esch with an appointment for a morning drug test. Esch said he'd take one on his own time.

Carter claimed that this was all about "setting a good example for the kids". (He was possibly heard murmuring "damn hippy" under his breath... )

Of course, Carter's example is Michael Scott, losing candidate to Lee Terry ten years ago. Back in Terry's inaugural Congressional campaign, Scott admitted to marijuana and cocaine use. Terry cruised to victory with 66%.

So what does Carter know or suspect about Esch?

Let's assume that if Esch tests positive for anything harder than caffeine, Carter could make this a race. But what if Esch is clean? Does the suspicion hurt Esch? When will the inevitable, "While you're clean now, what have you done in the past?" questions come? Or will it all backfire on Carter, who will then be sent back to Econ 101 at Metro.

Difficult to say at this point.
But harking back to the Hoagland-Christensen polygraph tests of 1994, Carter has made this race interesting...

***

Mike Johanns has found his Macaca.

We've learned that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has hired liberal blogger Lisa Hannah to stalk Mike Johanns at all of his public events and videotape his every word.

Now you probably remember that this sort of thing got Senator George Allen in trouble in 2006. Allen singled out the Jim Webb supporter who was following him with a video camera at all of his events.

Of course, Mike Johanns is no George Allen. Allen was the type who you sort of knew could say something blundering at any point. With Johanns, you feel like his brain sets out cue-cards that he reads before anything comes out of his mouth. Johanns is even-tempered, with a ton of public speaking experience. Don't expect a macaca-moment out of him.

But that's not to say Hannah won't try. She has become pseudo-famous in the Nebraska online world for her pestering of Third District Congressman Adrian Smith. She reportedly followed Smith around at a number of events and places over the past few years. And she's a die-hard Kleebian. If Smith's dentist needs to know how many teeth Adrian has, he could easily go to Hannah for the information.

Well, it's good to see that the Dems are spending their money wisely.