Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan lost her bid for an eighth term on Tuesday, the crap splatter from her son Kwame, the former Detroit mayor, prompting her constituents to throw her out on her ear in a year when disgusted voters seem eager to fire their would-be rulers.She's the sixth -- and the fourth in the House -- to bite the dust so far this year. And infuriated voters could deal others the same fate in primaries over the next two months, not to mention the general election in November, when nothing less than unchecked Dem power will be at stake.
In another nod to fresh blood, Michigan voters chose political newcomer Rick Snyder as the Republican nominee in the race to succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Jennifer "Placidly Surveying the Rubble" Granholm in a state severely battered by ineptitude and mismanagement.
He automatically became the favorite in the ailing state in his race against Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who grabbed the Democratic nomination by beating House Speaker Andy Dillon. Michigan has the nation's second-highest unemployment rate -- at 13.2 percent -- and scores of foreclosures, and that has been a drag on Granholm, the Democratic governor who must leave office because of term limits.
The voters wouldn't toss her, of course...
The two outcomes reflected the electorate's strong tar and feathers sentiment and intense desire to turn the bastards out just three months before midterm elections.
Other races in Missouri and Kansas were more predictable in what otherwise has been a primary season filled with unanticipated results, as tea party hopefuls shook up races and voters threw rotting fruit and vegetables at candidates aligned with the political parties.
In Kansas, two-term Sen. Sam Brownback sailed to the GOP nomination in the gubernatorial race. Democrat Robin Carnahan -- the privileged scion of a famed Missouri political dynasty -- and seven-term GOP Rep. Roy Blunt secured spots on the November ballot in that state's Senate race.
Another veteran politician -- GOP Rep. Jerry Moran -- narrowly topped fellow Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt in the race for the party's Senate nod in Kansas and will face Democrat Lisa Johnston, who's regarded as toast. Moran had the backing of Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., while Tiahrt had the support of Sarah Palin. Victory in the GOP primary was tantamount to a general election win, as Kansas hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.
The 2010 midterm elections already have seen five incumbents lose. Sens. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Arlen Specter,
State Sen. Hansen Clarke of Detroit beat Kilpatrick in Michigan's Democratic primary. Throughout the campaign, he stressed the oozing corruption of Kilpatrick's son, who was kicked out as Detroit mayor in 2008 after copping a plea to obstruction of justice. Kilpatrick tried to overcome her son's record by emphasizing her membership on the House Appropriations Committee and what she called her record of providing boodle for the metropolitan Detroit district, which is rolling in dough as anyone with half an eye can see.
In the governor's race, Snyder -- who grabbed attention with ads promoting himself as "one tough nerd" -- overcame Attorney General Mike Cox, Rep. Pete Hoekstra and two others. The former president and chief operating officer of computer maker Gateway Inc. spent $6 million of his own money to purchase the primary.
In Kansas, Brownback easily won the GOP gubernatorial nomination over a single opponent and already was considered a shoo-in. He is giving up a Senate seat he's held since 1997. The conservative made a brief run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out because nobody noticed.
State Sen. Tom Holland is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. They will square off to succeed Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson, who was finishing out the remainder of Kathleen Sebelius' term. She left office last year to join the B.O. team as Health and Human Services Secretary.
In Missouri, Carnahan, the heir of a former governor and a former senator, easily defeated two token opponents. Her Senate bid comes 10 years after the death of her father and one of her brothers in a plane crash.
Still waving the bloody shirt, is she?
Carnahan, the two-term secretary of state, will face Blunt, another dynast who has served in the House since 1996 and whose son is a former governor. He beat eight opponents for the GOP nomination, including tea party favorite state Sen. Chuck Purgason. Four-term Sen. Kit Bond is retiring.
Missouri also became the first state to test the popularity of Obama's health care fiasco.
Voters jumped on a new law that prohibits the government from requiring people to have health insurance or from penalizing them from paying for their own health care. That conflicts with a federal requirement that most people have health insurance or face penalties starting in 2014 which means the fed are going to take them to court before the next month is out.
The legal effect is questionable, because federal laws generally supersede those in states, which is why they're going to court. But its passage is a thumb in the eye to Obama and the Democrats.