Could the Republican National Committee Convention get any… screwier?  I suppose in terms of screws, it dodged a bullet with this one

Trump was offered a major speaking role during the convention, but has told the Romney campaign that he relishes the role he plays as an independent voice and believes his support of the Romney campaign could be served in other ways. The Romney camp is said to have already proposed to Trump how they would like him involved at the convention, but the nature of his involvement is being kept secret.

In election news simultaneously related and unrelated, Roseanne Barr has picked up the Peace and Freedom Party nomination, which basically descends a run into presidency into about this:

And her campaign for president’s continued long past the point when it could be either a career-revitalizing stunt or a sharp jab at the major-party contenders.

This isn’t too bad.  But there’s a parallel with Trump in that in 2000, Donald Trump ran for the Presidency on the Reform Party for a time, and basically taking stabs at Pat Buchanan and aggravating Jesse Ventura because the run ended up not being all that seriously and wouldn’t take out Buchanan.  Roseanne Barr’s campaign is — well, either career revitalizing stunt not worked out or a sharp jab at the major party contenders not worked out, but she will never descend to —

Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump is back on his birther talk, tweeting yesterday that he received a call from a credible source confirming that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud.

And he was invited for a big speech at the Republican Convention?  One thing that gives me pause is the story originated with newsmax.

And here’s the actual speaking parade.

In particular, Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) presence on the stage in Tampa will help supporters of the senator’s father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who ran for president this year and caused the GOP headaches at multiple state party conventions.

And former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who waged a hard fought and at times bitter battle with Mitt Romney during the Republican primary, will also be a primetime speaker.

The Republican National Committee announced Paul and Santorum’s speaking slots along with slots for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.

Announcing Paul and Santorum one day after publicizing the first group of headliners looked like a way to try to mitigate the lumps that the GOP knows it will take from Democrats, who will likely use Paul’s statements on fiscal policy and Santorum’s past remarks on social policy to label the party as extreme.

The party has a Ron Paul problem they hope to stuff with Rand Paul.

Willamette Week letter to the editor:

First, I have been using the library computers on a daily basis for about three months. During that time, I have seen various problems there, mostly rising from the fact that the library is now being used as a social-service agency. But I have never seen any signs that anyone was watching porn, and I know that the librarians watch out for that kind of thing.

3…2…1

Laughing laughing laughing.  Not terribly observant is this library patron, is he?

Actually I believe porn viewing is allowable to some degree or other, or better to say it is left to the discretion of the immediate fellow patrons to complain.   I once sat by and watching as the security corralled a man who was masturbating, and insisting he wasn’t, and you can imagine the conversation was of the “No I wasn’t” “Don’t insult my intelligence” variety and awkward for all involved.

Anyway, the initial anecdote in the Willamette Week article may or may not be relevant to the story, but that is a different debate than that suggested by John Emerson in denial vantage point.

It doesn’t appear Alan Jacquemotte is running for anything.  Formerly of the Natural Law party (maybe the last candidate for the party ever?)  and now a Republican.

I suppose he didn’t spell out when he was running here, but I did just assume he was running this year.  Oh well.  I had intended to poke in at around primary time.  The primary is on.  I don’t see him.  So it goes…

Michigan.  Or, for one of the fluke one party states where there’s nothing up in the Senate contest.  Pete Hoekstra is supposed to win against Clark Durant.  And then lose in November.  But be reasonably competitive in doing so.

Missouri’s Republican Senate race, on the other hand, is… fun?
 But in Missouri, FreedomWorks, the Express, and other influential conservative players find themselves on opposite sides of tomorrow’s contested Senate primary. FreedomWorks for America, the super PAC arm of conservative nonprofit FreedomWorks, has endorsed businessman John Brunner. The Tea Party Express, however, has thrown its support and $76,000 in outside spending behind former state treasurer Sarah Steelman, who recently claimed Sarah Palin’s endorsement. Meanwhile, a third candidate, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) has been endorsed by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who heads the Congressional Tea Party Caucus.

Claire McCaskill, the Democratic incumbent, is probably the most vulnerable Democrat going into November.

Your Ron Paul “Lberty” candidates in all three state primary races.

Meanwhile, Washington is left watching to see… whether the Republican or the Democratic nominee will come in first.  It doesn’t matter, but the state needs to watch something.  Otherwise we’re down to the typical clown show lineup of perennials.  Please, everyone… vote for goodspaceguy.

Tennessee Democratic US Senate Primary vote percentage totals.

Mark Clayton 30 percent
Gary Gene Davis 15.4 percent
Park Overall 15.1 percent
Larry Crimm 11 percent
Dave Hancock 10.2 percent
Benjamin Roberts 10 percent
Thomas Owens 8.3 percent

The winner is… Mark Clayton.  He’s ran before.

Mark Clayton is the former vice president of the Public Advocate of The United States — the same deeply paranoid, gay-hating outfit that misappropriated a gay couple’s wedding photo for use in a political advertisement earlier this year, and last week published what was supposed to be a funny song about child-molesting gay scoutmasters.

These offenses against taste and sanity don’t begin to describe the full breadth and depth of Clayton’s weirdness, or the Public Advocate’s. Mother Jones has an instructive breakdown, which informs us that Clayton once believed the Chinese government had teamed with Google to destroy his political career; that Clayton has denounced Arnold Schwarzenegger as a sort of Austrian Manchurian candidate whose mission is to bring Nazi eugenics to America; and that Clayton’s deepest fears include the construction of a superhighway from Canada to Mexico, the completion of which would for some reason destroy the United States. […]
Elsewhere, he warns of an encroaching “godless new world order” and suggests that Americans who speak out against government policies could some day be placed in “a bone-crushing prison camp similar to the one Alexander Solzhenitsyn was sent or to one of FEMA’s prison camps.” (There are no FEMA prison camps.)

Apparently the state party had asked Park Overall to run.  She’s an actress, best known as a cast member of the sitcom Empty Ness from decades back.  The thought seemed to be that she would have thrown out an occasional one liner and had an amount of fun in her run up to a loss in November that would have made for some good occasional copy.  It’s instructive that the candidate considered to be her main opponent, as per actually spending some money on the thing, came in fourth.  Overall wasn’t that famous, and Mark Clayton was first on the ballot.  So he wins the primary.  And the Democratic Party in the state disowns his candidacy.

And… the problem for the party.  If you’re a Democrat running for the House in rural Tennessee and you see Barack Obama at the top of the ticket and Mark Clayton under him, you’re probably already thinking about calling it a day.

Texas US Senate Democratic Primary election run-off results.
Paul Sadler 63.1 percent
Grady Yarbrough  36.9 percent

At least the state party got their lackluster candidate in.  The county map totals would be worth a look.   I’ve covered Yarbrough’s campaign here:   Yarbrough is popularly believed to have gotten through off of his name, but there’s probably a bit of minority identity politics in there, and the map should show that I think.  Anyway… it is instructive that the Democratic Primary came down to the party establishment pick (reluctantly) versus whoever’s name popped out best… and that last time Yarbrough won he was a Republican where his name didn’t help any.

Mississippi.  He has a famous name.

Albert Gore, Jr.  At least here this old man aligns with party policies, and there’s not much reason anyone else would’ve won.   Let’s see the vote totals.

Albert Gore 56.8 percent
Roger Weiner 24.4 percent
Will Oatis 18.8 percent

Yeah, he probably won because of his name.  The party might have preferred the Afghanistan War veteran, but I doubt they worry too much.

Maine.  The Democrat that is dumped from the party.

There’s nothing wrong with Maine’s candidate.  May be too left for the state party’s liking, and her narrow victory exposed some geopolitical rifts with a gun-toting opponent who’d not step anywhere near Occupy crowds she’s willing to speak to.  But the matter with Cynthia Dill is that she has essentially been dumped by the party, who is running with the Independent Angus King.  It is an interesting situation, that will only lead to a bitter campaign by Cynthia Dill and random flounderings about the rise of the Charlie Crists of the world.

Wyoming.  One chance to avoid embarrassment.

Just to be sure it’s two perennials and an elected official somewhere.  The two dozen Democrats in this state — trust me:  you want Chesnut.   At least the neo-nazi that is running is in the Republican Primary — that saves the party from another case of the situation in Tennessee.  Just trying to warn your state party.

The Republican sacrificial lamb senate races follow a different dynamic.  There are no shortage of “rich men on an educational crusade to teach capitalism” or “Ron Paul Revolution” figures to fill the void of party shrugs.  The former follows the model in Delaware and the latter Minnesota.   Or there’s Rhode Island‘s example — we see that type of promotional purpose campaigning out there.
And yet we Still, there was talk that Orly Taitz could win the California primary in the new Top 2 jungle system, but she didn’t … I don’t know that that’s a shame in balancing the gnashing teeth qualities of party schadenfreude.  I note that the party invited Alan Keyes to run against Obama in 2004, and that someone like Ted Cruz is about to win an easy victory in Texas, so things are balanced away already anyway.

I will be watching to see how Vermont’s Senate primary turns out.  This is actually kinda interesting… it’s moderate of old school type against Tea Party conservative for the sake of taking on and losing badly to the one avowed Socialist in the Senate.  I want to see what Vermont is, and this election will show a bit of what Vermont is.

Tennessee apparently holds its primary elections today.  Here’s the biggy, the marquee race, and it is…  A race from Hell.
House of Representatives 6th District:  Freshman Republican Representative Diane Black is challenged by Lou Ann Zelenik, who lost to Black in a primary to represent the rural district two years ago by less than 300 votes.
The heart of the struggle is over the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, about 30 miles south of Nashville, which has been controversial since construction began two years ago.
Zelenik, who vigorously opposed the mosque and warned of potential terrorist connections, said Black was not forceful enough in her opposition.
“I will work to stop the Islamization of our society, and do everything possible to prevent Sharia law from circumventing our laws and our Constitution,” Zelenik said.

Good old exciting Southern Fried politics of yore.

There’s apparently another “exciting” Republican primary with the 3rd district, but it’s difficult to figure out what it’s all about.  No “Establishment” versus “Tea Party”, it’s just a bunch of pols and political legacy family figures wanting a ladder on their political career so they can cash in as a lobbyist in a decade or two.  Looks like the incumbent will win.

And here’s the Democratic Primary front runner for US Senate
Actress Park Overall said the Democratic nomination campaign has been an eye-opening experience for a political neophyte.
“Why everyone is so careful with what they say is annoying. I don’t know if you can tell the truth anymore,” said Overall, who starred in the popular television series “Empty Nest” in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Just don’t bother voting.

Last ditch electioneering from Grady Yarbrough.

The Democratic US Senate candidate who is often perceived as a joke, Grady Yarbrough, is apparently releasing an ad.

“I will support the Dream Act 100%,” he says as the ad begins. He also proposes to “grant citizenship to all undocumented workers living here for more than 7 years without a criminal history.”

That sounds like a big liberal limb to jump out on to Texas’s voters, and it’s certainly not a place that Paul Sadler is willing to go.

Which is interesting, considering the debate performance:
Yarbrough said he was on board with any number of measures, including a wall or fence, to close the U.S.-Mexico border. And to make his point, he referenced the infamous Berlin Wall, saying “it was pretty effective.”
“We have to use whatever method is at our disposal,” he said.

They are, I suppose, not contradictory positions.  But considering that Yarbrough was apparently trying to get the votes of a mixture of people voting for the ghost of Ralph and a mixture of Hispanic and black votes (he claims he ran around the state and went to crowds of minorities) — well, quite the idiosyncratic positioning.  Probably just pandering twice.

Anyway.  It doesn’t matter.  Sadler won.  And he now goes on to lose to the Tea Party challenger to the Establishment Republican pick.  And there’s a certain hand-wringing to Democratic voters and activists — “If only we coulda found a contender” — this coulda been the year, after a decade of futility with contenders in what looked like they could be the year for statewide election results.

Anyway… election results for the day’s contests… I’ll see if there’s anything later.