2010 Primaries: When DId Voting Become Ironic?

Is it me or is there something "Not Ready For Prime Time" about Carl Paladino and Christine O'Donnell?

Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for Governor of New York, likes to share ". . . racist jokes and pornographic images, espoused turning state prisons into dormitories where inmates can be given classes on hygiene, and defended an ally's comparison of the Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, who is Jewish to an "Antichrist or a Hitler." (NYT 9/15) Let the record show, however, that he defeated former congressman Rick Lazio for the nomination. Lazio, the pride of Long Island, makes that other pride of Long Island, former Senator Al D'Amato, look like Alexander the Great.

Christine O'Donnell, Republican candidate to fill Vice-President Joe Biden's seat in the Senate, ". . . has struggled for years with personal finance problems - she has reported earnings of only $5,800 for most of this year and last and she has defaulted on her mortgage - and fudged her educational background and former campaign achievement." She also founded an "...abstinence organization that denounced masturbation as a form of adultery" and has been criticized by Karl Rove (top White House advisor when Al Gore was elected and Dick Cheney was President) as "unelectable, untruthful and 'nutty.'" (NYT 9/16) That she defeated Rep. Michael N. Castle, one of Delaware's most popular and longest-serving Republicans, says, perhaps, more about the state than about her.

True, neither has been elected yet and Mr. Paladino has a formidable opponent in Andrew Cuomo, New York State Attorney General and son of former Governor, Mario Cuomo. Ms. O'Donnell will face New Castle County Executive Chris Coons in the Delaware Senate race - unless they find her legs sticking out of a mulcher first. Not that the Republicans would ever stoop to dirty tricks, but . . . if I were Christine O'Donnell, I'd keep my eye on Karl Rove.