Reading women's tea leaves

Admittedly, my ability to read tea leaves in today's political environment pretty much sucks. I was certain that Cunningham would run - and I was dead wrong. But that won't stop me from continuing to speculate about what might happen next. For example, I am happy to predict that Blue Dog Etheridge won't run, and if he does, he'll get his paternalistic butt kicked by Elaine Marshall. No matter what the polling shows today, Etheridge's misogynist vote on the odious Stupack amendment would be the kiss of death in a statewide Democratic primary.

The truth is, we're going into an off year cycle where turn out will be abysmal. In my view, the two most likely segments to be highly motivated will be women on one hand and Beck-Palin crazies on the other. We can't do anything about the lunatics, but on the woman front, Bob Etheridge has a serious problem. So does Bank-Run Burr.

With war and healthcare dominating political discourse, 2010 may very well be the Year of the Woman here in North Carolina. And with Republican Party continuing to insist that it knows better than any woman what she should be allowed to do with her body, the gals I know are more than a little pissed.

Of course, there are plenty of women I don't know, women who are happy to do whatever their asshole husbands tell them to do, which means no candidate can count on women voting in bloc. But if there's anyone capable of of moving women into action against a thick-headed jock like the Lawnmower Man, it's Elaine Marshall.