Everyone is trying to make sense...

...of this week's mini-Super Tuesday: the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th District and the three Senate primaries in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas. I'm not convinced that there's any grand lesson to be learned here; each one turned out pretty much as expected. Let's consider them individually.

The special election for Jack Murtha's old seat in Pennsylvania was supposed to be a good opportunity for a Republican pickup. It's full of Reagan Democrats and was the only district in the country to vote for John McCain in 2008 after going for John Kerry in '04. Republican Tim Burns ran against President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, health care reform, and all the bailouts, takeovers, and blah, blah, blah that have become the GOP's talking points. And he got crushed. My takeaway is that the Republicans still have to come up with an agenda of some sort if they are to retake the House in November. It's not enough to be the Party of No; you have to stand for something.

As far as that other election in Pennsylvania, a Democrat beat a life-long Republican (sort of) in a Democratic primary--simple as that. Now the residents of one of the biggest swing states in America will have a clear choice in the fall between a conservative and a liberal. That alone could make it one of the most interesting races to watch this year.

In Kentucky, despite all the talk of the tea party candidate upsetting the establishment choice, Republicans just replaced one cranky old white guy, Jim Bunning, with a younger version, Rand Paul. The status quo was preserved. And the tension that previously existed between Mitch McConnell and Bunning is now between McConnell and Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. And who knows if Paul can even win a general election? Don't be too surprised if Democrat Jack Conway beats him in November. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Kentucky and some of Paul's more out-of-the-mainstream views are just now coming to light.

In Arkansas, it appears that Lt. Governor Bill Halter may defeat incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln in the June 8 runoff. Who cares? Arkansas is more of a red state anyway, and either one would probably lose in the fall. In hindsight, Lincoln should have kept a much lower profile in the last year or so like the other Democratic senator from Arkansas, Mark Pryor. If she had just gone along with her party on health care, etc. she wouldn't have had to face a primary challenge. Lincoln would have lost the general anyway, but at least she would have gone out knowing she had been a help to her party (and her country) instead of a hindrance.