Pelosi has a Republican opponent

Nancy Pelosi has a Republican opponent in the general election. Her name is Dana Walsh. Pelosi has had Republican opponents before; last time, it was a guy named Mike DeNunzio, who raised $149,842 and got 10.7% of the vote. That's par for the course against Pelosi, who has won reelection 10 times with an average of 81% of the vote.

But this record is not deterring our erstwhile Republican interior decorator/sacrificial lamb/deluded martyr Ms. Walsh! She is planning on raising $1 million for her race against Pelosi.

This is yet more proof that the Republican reputation for being fiscally responsible is highly undeserved. Raising $1 million to run against the Speaker of the House, who is wildly popular in her own district, which has a 6 to 1 Democrat advantage among registered voters? How smart is that? Why not just raise money to do something like endow a chair in conservative thinking at Berkeley? Why not raise money for a retirement home for all the GOP Representatives and Senators who are going to be out of a job next January? Why not hire a bunch of therapists and grief counselors for the GOP staffers who will also be out of work?

Conservatives argue that individuals are better at spending their own money than the government. This is strong evidence to the contrary. I would love to see someone try to justify this as an efficient allocation of resources. Or even a responsible allocation of resources.

A large chunk of this money is going to be spent on TV ads, which means that GOP donors around the country are going to be sending their money to support the media in San Francisco. I'm sure the TV stations in the Bay Area will be more than happy to take their money.

Ironically, Cindy Sheehan is also hoping to run, as an independent. This is not surprising or even interesting - as noble as her crusade is, Ms. Sheehan doesn't seem to have the best political judgment. But her presence, if she gets the necessary 10,000 signatures, will make it more interesting!

My favorite part of the story is Walsh's justification for why she is running:

Walsh said she knows the odds against her are long. “It’s a two-party system. Someone has to run,’’ she said.

Well, no, actually, someone does not HAVE to run. And someone does not HAVE to raise $1 million for a suicide mission. And someone does not HAVE to provide material for Democrats to be amused.

But we are glad that Ms. Walsh is obliging.