Special Elections

We already knew that the special election for PA-12 was going to happen on May 18. What we didn't know was that the Republicans and the Democrats got together in their smokey backrooms and selected candidates for the special election: Tim Burns (R) and Mark Critz (D). Now the odd thing is that in the same election, the voters will select a replacement of these two men and also select the nominees for the regular election in November. One would presume that they might be the same, but that is not assured. Whoever wins the special election will almost certainly be the nominee in the general election, but it is possible that the loser could also lose the nomination to another candidate. Very odd series of events.

Four days later on May 22, there will be an open election for HI-1. Under norman circumstances this would be a Democratic walk in the park (Neil Abercrombie won with 70.6% in 2008). However, the Democrats are split between Ed Case (a blue dog) and Colleen Hanabusa (traditional liberal) while the Republicans have just Charles Djou. There might be enough of a split to give Mr. Djou the win, but even now, Democrats are taking steps to prevent that.