Tales from the Trail

Finally get some shut-eye after Tuesday’s election? Well, rise and shine. 2012 is just around the corner and the presidential campaign is already getting under way.

Folks at the White House may be asking themselves if the humbled, chastened President Barack Obama will face a primary challenge from the Left.

That bit of speculation got churning after newly unemployed Senate Democrat Russ Feingold conceded defeat with the decidedly unchastened message: “It’s on to the next fight. It’s on to the next battle. It’s on to 2012. And it is on to our next adventure — forward!” 

Then the Washington political journal Politico wondered aloud if Obama’s almost meek-sounding response to the Republican midterm wave could make him vulnerable to a fiery challenge from Howard Dean.

According to the latest speculation, a primary challenge from the Left could weaken Obama in 2012 by making it much harder for him to galvanize his base for the general election. Teddy Kennedy did the same favor for Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Congress is in recess and lawmakers are gearing up for midterm elections in November.

The Republican National Committee decided to liven up a slow mid-August Monday with a video taking aim at Democrats who might not want to stand too close to President Barack Obama and his sagging approval ratings. 

It was done as a take-off on the Steven Slater exit from his job as flight attendant — showing Democrats in hotly-contested races sliding down an emergency chute from a plane that has Obama on board.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrat Russ Feingold denounces as “alarmingly undemocratic” the apparent deal-making that went into picking a Senate successor to U.S. commerce secretary-designee Judd Gregg.

Feingold sees the selection as fresh ammo in his drive to amend the U.S. Constitution to require that vacant Senate seats be filled by a special election rather than a gubernatorial appointment.

President Barack Obama nominated Gregg, New Hampshire’s three-term Republican senator, as commerce secretary on Tuesday. Democratic New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch named a Republican, Bonnie Newman, as Gregg’s Senate replacement — if Gregg is confirmed, as expected, by the Democratic-led Senate.