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Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider

Posted: 10:44 p.m. Monday, May 24, 2010

Another Primary Tuesday 

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By Jamie Dupree

There isn't much excitement or election action expected today, with only Idaho holding Congressional primaries, as one Senator and two members of Congress will win their party's nominations without expending much energy.

That's really the focus of this entry, to remind everyone - again - that while there has been a lot of heat generated by the "anti-incumbent" mood among voters, most incumbents in the U.S. House and Senate haven't felt a thing.

Take Idaho for example. Republican Sen. Michael Crapo (that's pronounced Cray-po) faces only token opposition in his GOP primary today, from a realtor named Skip Davis.

There might have been more of a chance for Davis to be a threat, but Crapo refused an offer for a May 16 debate on statewide television and radio.

On the House side of the ballot, Rep. Walt Minnick (D-ID) faces no primary opposition, while Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) has three GOP foes, whom he has outraised by several hundred thousand dollars.

While some lawmakers have to confront fields like that in their 2010 primary, many others have been unopposed.

For example, last week in Pennslyvania, of the 17 U.S. House incumbents running for their seats again in Congress, 11 of them were unopposed in their party primary.

In Oregon last week, three of the five incumbents running again faced no primary opponent; the two others had token opposition.

There was even less competition in Kentucky, where all six incumbents running again for the House had no opposition in their primary.

That's just one reason why the re-election rates for members of Congress are usually above 90% - even in "tough" election years.

 
 

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