With Noriega You Get More And Better

I got a bit of pushback crowing about Don Cazayoux' victory in as special election in the Baton Rouge area. Considering the guy's political hero is John Breaux, he's not exactly going to be my favorite Democrat. My narrower point was that the "Republican attack machine" is not nearly as fearsome as advertised, that's all.

But this race for the Senate in Texas should satisfy the "more" and "better" requirements.

In a sign that the Senate Republicans could be in danger in even states usually deemed safe for them, a new Rasmussen poll of Texas finds that Sen. John Cornyn (R) could very well have a race on his hands against Democrat Rick Noriega, a state Representative and Iraq War veteran:

Cornyn (R) 47%
Noriega (D) 43%
Sample size: 500 likely voters.
Margin of error: ±4%

Now, Cornyn has a ridiculously large lead in cash on hand, and George Bush would probably be more concerned with getting his puppet Cornyn re-elected than he would getting John McCain in the White House. But as a baseline poll, before the campaign even really starts, this is quite incredible. Rick Noriega is a veteran and a state Senator who got into the race with the support of the Texas netroots. He believes in ending the war, restoring balance to the economy, and ending unfunded education mandates. If we turn the large Hispanic community into regular voters in Texas, we'd have a very large swing state. Rick Noriega shows the way. I'm very excited about this seat.

There are a few other Senate primaries coming up where we have the chance to pick a better Democrat, too. In North Carolina tomorrow, Jim Neal is the better choice against State Sen. Kay Hagan, although Hagan is favored. In Nebraska on May 13, millionaire Republican-turned-Democrat Tony Raimondo is trying to buy the nomination, but we have netroots favorite Scott Kleeb. And on May 20, the Democratic primary in Kentucky will hopefully give us Greg Fischer instead of terrible Liebercrat Bruce Lunsford. Senate Guru has more on all these races.

UPDATE: Bush Dog John Barrow will also have a primary challenger. Good.