And if any GOP Senator deserves to go, Jim Inhofe is it.  But we were really high in 2004 and it was all a let down.  Also - touting that Rice is in the same position now as Coburn was in 2004 isn't saying much.  Of course the federal Republican candidate is going to have a higher base with a higher ceiling than a Democrat.  I'd love to make the Republicans sweat this one out, but it's not gonna happen.

I met Andrew Rice at a 21st Century Democrats event last year and I was really impressed with him. Would love to see him have a shot at the Oklahoma Senate seat. Hard to get too optimistic though...Oklahoma tends to send the most reactionary senators imaginable to Congress.

Obama (or any other Democrat) loses Oklahoma by 20. Downticket from that bloodbath, it's nearly impossible to win there. That's why coburn won in 2004.

We need a midterm election to capture that seat...

Eh... down 11 points from the previous poll or not, Inhofe is still at or above 50, Carson was one of our best hopes, and there are easier third tier races to win. I wish Rice all the best, but my own attention and, when I have cash to spare, funds, will be thinking more about Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

I was devastated when he won the primary.  I supposed I was all hyped up on Dean-mania, but Carson was just a GOP-lite Democrat.

I don't think we are going to 'trick' Oklahoma into electing a Democrat disguised as a Republican.  Rice is much mor progressive than Carson was - actually, I met Carson a few times at campaign events, and obviously followed his campaign closely (Colburn's douchebaggery was obvious from the get-go... the man in hopelessly batshit crazy) and was never enthusiastic about his chances; he just came across in a very lame way.  He ran a conservative Democratic campaign, much like say Harold Ford did (from waht I could see, I followed the Ford race through the national press and blogs, not through local press and exposure as I followed the Carson-Colburn race).

Colburn and Inhofe win a who's-more-conservative pissing contest any day.  Unlike Carson, who ran a kind of hey-I'm-not-THAT-bad-for-a-Democrat campaign, Rice seems tobe running a map-changing campaign... out there trying to convince people to vote for him because he will represent them better on the issues, especially health care.

It helps that Inhofe is a total asshat - Colburn, while a total tool, has genuine batshit-crazy sincerity going for him.  Inhofe is in it for the power and loot, and he just happened to develop a niche as the most back-assward memebr of Congress.

All in all, I would say that Obama will do much better here than Kerry, much like everywhere else.  He probably won't win here, but he will campaign and that will help Rice.  Rice fits into the overall theme of the Obama campaign.

We have a very good Democratic governor who is not a GOP-lite washout, but a Democrat with good progressive ideas that is willing to work with the GOP if they behave themselves and is not afraid to play a little rough if they don't.  Again, kinda like the Obama image.  Carson was more of a DLC-kinda guy, at least that was MY take on him after sitting through the campaign.

Overall, I was much more into Dean and was extremely pissed after watching Dems in Iowa and NH vote for Kerry because they thought there is NO WAY the GOP would smear a veteran (how'd that work out for us?  I forgot.) and to this day I think Dean would have mopped the floor with His Shrubness Gee-Dub the First.  So take what I think witha grain of salt... but I think that even in OK, we only make headway by challenging assumptions and changing minds.  In this respect Obama and Rice are MILES ahead of Kerry and Carson, and Inhofe (who is personally corrput and repugnant) is a much more favorable opponent for us that Colburn (who is more of a crazy idealist and has something approximating charisma, at least to conservatives).

So I am VERY optomistic about this race and will be working and contributing to make sure that the senior asshat from OK gets a permanent vacation.

I think that this race is worth putting money into, for two reasons:
-A Rice win would be absolutely backbreaking for the right-wing.  Inhofe is a one man brick wall for progressive environmental legislation, especially dealing with climate change.  Removing that brick wall would be huge.  

Also, I met Rice this spring, and when I expressed my support for habeas restoration, his reaction was, "I'm all about habeas!"  I have no illusions that he's suddenly going to go to the Senate and become Feingold, but there's good reason he'll actually be progressive on a few issues, which is more than we can hope for from a number of our candidates.

-Oklahoma's a pretty cheap state to run a race.  Throwing a half-million bucks there and seeing if the numbers move, in the context of the DSCC's largesse, seems like a worthwhile gamble.  If it works, it's another quality race on our radar screen and, if not, it's just a half-million, which isn't that much for Schumer and co.