I know Ben and Clay are in the tank for Schaffer, but I'll probably be taking my time on this one, while Liniger figures out what he's doing. Salazar may be raising lots of dough, but if Liniger does end up with the nomination, he'll need every penny of it. Remember, the state parties are severely limited in how much money they can give to candidates, since McCain-Feingold.

Nobody, except us political junkies, is paying much attention to this race, and if Liniger runs, and if he and Schaffer can keep it civil, it really might turn out to be a lot of good, free publicity for the Republicans here, at a time when both guys can use it. It's also true that while Schaffer has been vetted by a Congressional campaign before, he's never run statewide, which calls for an additional set of organizational and campaign skills. A primary challenge could help him here, too.

I haven't been out here long enough to have any sense of personal loyalty to any of 'em. I'm still feeling my way along, seeing what comes out, which probably puts me in the same boat as 90% of the state. While it's hard to say that the Democrats had any truly attractive Presidential candidates, we should remember that there are risks as well as rewards for picking a candidate very early in the process.