Primaries are a dicey proposition when you have no federal or statewide races on the ballot. Voter turnout is tiny and those who do vote tend to be the most committed of party activists.
Yesterday's Virginia primaries illustrated this. Two moderate Republican state senate incumbents lost to more ideologically "pure" conservative challengers. That may create an opening for Democrats in those races--we'll see.
On the Democratic side, Del. Donald McEachin, an African-American who strongly supported Jim Webb's successful run for the Senate, ousted incumbent Senator Benjamin Lambert, an African-American who made the mistake of casting his lot with defeated Senator George Allen. It was a nice payback for Democrats who felt betrayed by Lambert.
In Arlington, incumbent Treasurer Frank O'Leary easily cruised to victory over a surprising challenger.
And, to show what little the Curmudgeon knows, Morris Meyer--who we recently endorsed in a Fairfax County race for Delegate, lost in the Democratic primary to Rex Simmons. No hard feelings here: we wish Simmons all the best in his race now to unseat the Republican incumbent.
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