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People blaming Mitch, or saying he didn't work for Kerr, are ridiculous. Mitch's entire staff, including Billy Piper, were loaned to Kerr's campaign, and he raised tons for her. Nobody stayed home because "Mitch played King". Chandler had been campaigning for 18 months straight and had 100% name recognition. The negatives on him in the governor's race (Patton, e.g.) didn't carry over. None of the GOP candidates had any significant name recognition relative to Chandler - and that includes Lonnie Napier, who was so angry about Mitch leaning on the party to pick Kerr. Nobody outworked the GOP, either. They just had a good candidate.

Lonnie or Stan either one would have had the same hurdles to overcome had Mitch not gotten involved. They may be a bit relieved they were not the candidate, because now they have lifeleft when they can mount a whole season-long campaign next time. They don't have to face a highly known candidate with just two months to win.

Those who ignore the uphill battle we had in this race are doing so over sour grapes. I can sympathize with their anger at Mitch, but that's not realistic and it's not helpful to keeping the party moving toward winning for Bush and Buford,presumably, in the fall.