And people wonder why Thad Cochran is in trouble
by digby
Good lord:
In an interview Thursday, Cochran, who is locked in a tight runoff-election campaign with state Sen. Chris McDaniel, appeared to be completely unaware of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's loss to a Tea Party-aligned challenger two days earlier.
The interviewer asked Cochran if Cantor's loss made him more concerned for his own chances. McDaniel, who has the support of many high-profile Tea Party-aligned politicians and groups, has claimed momentum in the wake of Cantor's stunning defeat.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Cochran told the interviewer in a video posted on Fox News' website. "What happened in Virginia?"
"With Eric Cantor losing his seat," the interviewer replied.
"Well, I haven't really followed that race very closely at all," Cochran said.
"Really?" the interviewer said, bewildered.
"Really," Cochran said.
When the interviewer went on to explain the situation and its importance — the majority leader and No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives being knocked off by an unknown, underfunded challenger — Cochran said, "It happens."
"Members of Congress — some win, some lose," Cochran said. "It's not an automatic proposition."
Cochran has been criticized in the final months of the campaign for what seems to be his general lack of awareness on the trail.
I'm one who thinks that the far right really did unseat Cantor because he was perceived as being a squish, particularly on "amnesty." But if Cochran loses, I really doubt it can be attributed to Tea Party insurgency. He's just no longer with it -- and the voters have an alternative who's just as conservative as he is. In fact, it's a testament to the power of incumbency that he made it into a run-off.
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