Other Crap

Meet Chris Coons, the undistinguished doofus who seems likely to get a seat in the senate

He looks like the manager of your local Arby's. He's a county executive who got the Democratic nomination because nobody else wanted it, since Republican Mike Castle was considered to be a shoo-in. Now, with Castle having lost the primary, Coons seems to be Delaware's next senator. 538 calls him "extremely likely" to win. Two days ago they said he was extremely likely to lose!

In all fairness, I might point out that Bill Clinton got to be President in much the same way. No leading Democrat really tried for the 1992 nomination because Bush the Elder was considered a lock for re-election, and was enjoying an 89% approval rating when New Hampshire rolled around. Clinton had never held a job bigger than the governorship of Arkansas, which paid about the same as managing a 7-Eleven. Clinton actually lost the New Hampshire primary to the late Paul Tsongas, and then lost some more primaries, but it wasn't over till it was over. Ol' Bubba hung in there; the economy collapsed; Bush's approval rating cratered; Ross Perot split the vote; and Clinton was President of the United States within a year. Do you believe in miracles? That one compared to the hockey team's win against Russia and the raising of Lazarus.

So, who knows? Maybe you should practice playing "Hail to the Chief" for Chris Coons.

Reader comment:

In 2004 Jack Ryan won the Republican primary and was running for the Senate seat of Republican Peter Fitzgerald. He was running against another relatively-inexperienced candidate - Barack Obama.

Then it came out late in the campaign that while married to actress Jeri Ryan he took her to various sex club - and he was forced to abandon his campaign.

The Republicans were forced to field Alan Keyes (who lived in Maryland at the time) as the best viable candidate.

This whole affair helped to draw national attention to the Illinois Senate race during the summer of 2004, and more attention was given to Barack Obama. Which prompted the Democrats to allow him to give a speech at their 2004 national convention while he was still a candidate.

He would go on to win the Illinois Senate race, and the rest as they say is history.

You never ever know what's going to happen in politics.