Two candidates enter, one candidate leaves — all campaigns are essentially a fight to the political death. But most of the fights are in the style of pro-wrestling: scripted, predictable and (sorry to be the one to break this to you) frankly pretty fake.
Sometimes, however, candidates are forced to enter The Octagon. A few races each cycle turn into full-on, no-holds-barred brawls that would make a UFC fan cringe. No one knows who’ll come out on top, but it’s a good bet that everyone will get at least a little bloodied.
After the jump, our list of this year’s top political cage matches.
Florida GOP Senate Primary
What might be the most-watched race of the 2010 cycle pits once-popular Gov. Charlie Crist against conservative poster boy Marco Rubio. And with months still to go until the August primary, both men are already engaged in a knock-down, drag-out fight for the Republican electorate in the Sunshine State. Since the polls flipped to show the once-sure thing Crist to be the underdog, the embattled governor has been on the attack, claiming Rubio uses his political career as an ATM by working as a lobbyist while serving in the state House and paying for back waxes with a GOP credit card. Rubio’s main comeback? At least I’m not the guy on stage with President Obama.
Expect more attacks from Rubio as Crist’s hand-selected state GOP chair faces a criminal investigation over the way he managed party finances before he was forced to resign.
Rubio seems to have the upper hand at the moment, but Crist has shown he’s willing to climb down into the mud to stop him. How does it end? Who knows. Whichever way the polls move, it’s game on in Florida.
TPM Poll Average: Rubio 57.4-Crist 29.1
California GOP Senate Primary
The only thing that would make this race closer to an actual cage match would be the entry of Brock Lesnar. So far the race between former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, former Rep. Tom Campbell and tea party favorite Chuck DeVore has included allegations of anti-semitism, providing aid and comfort to terrorists, and of course, demon sheep.
The race that brought us the FCINO (it’s pronounced “fa-see-no) is sure to get uglier as it gets closer to CA’s June 8 primary. But don’t expect things to go soft after that — if Fiorina wins, she’s already made it clear she’s coming for incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (D).
TPM Poll Average: Campbell 26.6-Fiorina 23.6-DeVore 7.8
Virginia House 05
We told you all about the NY-23-style primary on the Republican side of this race last December. A crowded field of tea partiers seek take down the establishment GOP choice, state Rep. Robert Hurt, and they’re prepared to go all the way to do it. That fight alone is enough to make this list.
But think about the upcoming general election, when whomever the Republicans choose as their nominee will face off against freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D). He’s nothing less than the mascot for conservative anger at the Democratic Congress. A relative progressive in a deeply conservative district, Perriello has already suffered death threats in the wake of the health care reform vote. Make no mistake — the conservatives have made it clear they’re willing do just about anything to get this guy out of Congress.
Arizona GOP Senate Primary
Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth is trying to take down incumbent Sen. John McCain in what has turned into one of the nastiest races this year. Just this week, Hayworth accused McCain of using the murder of an Arizona rancher as a convenient way to get out from under a record on immigration reform that’s not doing McCain any favors with the right.
McCain has to get scrappy if he wants to put Hayworth away, and it seems clear that he’s ready to do it. He’s embraced the right at every opportunity and he lashed out at Hayworth over immigration this week, calling Hayworth’s accusation “despicable and offensive.”
McCain is also giving as good as he gets when it comes to riling up the right, calling in the biggest gun in the conservative arsenal — Sarah Palin — to shoot down Hayworth’s hopes of an upset.
TPM Poll Average: McCain 46.5-Hayworth 42.0
Connecticut Senate
Another no-brainer. Though the general election fight doesn’t seem to be as competitive as it was when Sen. Chris Dodd (D) was still running, it still has former pro-wrestling CEO Linda McMahon on the GOP side, which means it’s going to be entertaining.
McMahon, known among other things for her yacht, “Sexy Bitch,” has already been the target of some pretty amazing attacks from both the left and the right since she entered the GOP primary race. Just try and name another candidate Democrats have attacked for peddling necrophilia on TV — we dare you.
McMahon can’t seem to escape her past at the top of the WWE. This week, Republicans trying to beat her in Connecticut found a new way to use WWE footage against her, noting that some WWE scenes have included lesbian-themed bondage — an attempt to link McMahon to the latest RNC scandal.
TPM Poll Average: Blumenthal (D) 61.1-McMahon 28.4
Florida House 08
If Perriello is the mascot for conservative anger, Rep. Alan Grayson (D) is the man conservatives warn their kids will come in the night if they don’t eat their vegetables. A crowded field of Republicans are seeking to run against Grayson, including state Rep. Kurt Kelly, businessman Bruce O’Donoghue and attorney Todd Long. Kelly has lambasted Grayson’s “potty-mouth, his shock-jock mentality, and he’s been an embarrassment to the entire central Florida district.”
But those who tangle with Grayson take on a mighty foe. He’s already out there attacking the whole Republican Party of Florida, saying it “smells worse than a rotting carcass.” And when a “Tea Party” third-party candidate entered the race, Grayson declared: “It doesn’t matter to me whom I beat in November.” So really, any race that involves Alan Grayson will involve a lot of trash-talk — much of it from him.
Kentucky GOP Senate Primary
You wanna talk trash talk? Try The Bluegrass State, where Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) son, Rand, is threatening to take out establishment choice Trey Grayson in the Republican primary to replace Sen. Jim Bunning (R).
The pair recently launched competing ads focused on whether Paul is a 9/11 truther or not. (Grayson’s ad says Paul thinks the American government was behind 9/11, Paul’s ad essentially says “how dare you sir.”)
The polls show Grayson falling farther and farther behind. Expect him to go even more negative as he tries to shut down Paul.
TPM Poll Average: Paul 42.3-Grayson 25.3
Maryland Governor
No word goes better with “fight night” than “rematch.” And that’s exactly why the often overlooked Maryland gubernatorial fight goes on our list. Just this week, former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) — who who was unseated by current Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) in 2006 — announced he was getting into the race.
The fur started flying almost immediately. “We’re glad Ehrlich has finally announced,” O’Malley’s campaign manager told the Washington Examiner this week. “Running against a big-spending politician turned special interest lobbyist should provide a good contrast.”
Arkansas Democratic Senate Primary
A classic grudge match, this race pits AR Lt. Gov. Bill Halter against Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary. It’s no so much that Halter has a grudge against Lincoln, but his supporters sure do — national progressive groups and unions have slammed Lincoln for voting against much of the their legislative agenda in the Senate. They’re paying top dollar to take her out, and it looks like it could be working.
But Lincoln’s shown she’s ready to fight it out. She shown she’s ready to take big labor on, and she’s got a history of electoral success that shows she doesn’t run away when the going gets tough. This is already a hard-fought race, and it will only get nastier as the May 18 primary approaches.
Louisiana Senate
Yes, this is the one with the prostitutes. Democrats have made it clear they’re not going to let Sen. David Vitter (R) forget his past and we all know what that means — get ready to hear about the hookers.
So this is going to be an ugly fight. But it’s not clear how much of an actual brawl it will be. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) is running well behind Vitter in the polls (and has been for a while), and so far it seems he can’t land anything but than a glancing blow.
TPM Poll Average: Vitter 54.2-Melancon 35.2
Additional reporting by Eric Kleefeld
