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Monday, April 26, 2010

Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District Race Gets Weird(er)

In the beginning there was Representative Mike Thompson, chair of the all-important House Energy Committee, and Mike had pretty much sewn up all the major players in the Oklahoma business community as his supporters.  His consultants, Trey Richardson and Josh Kivett are stalwart Republicans who are well known in the Oklahoma Congressional delegation.  He was leading the pack in fund raising, had an aggressive grass roots operation and then, suddenly, he disappeared.

Enter:  Kevin Calvey.  Riding the wave of Iraq war veteran status, Calvey became the front runner in the race almost over night.  He was always "in" the race, but his media buys pushed him over the top and he has received the endorsement of organizations such as OCPAC and the Oklahoma Rifle Association.  Now, Kevin is clearly the one to beat in this race.  Or so we thought.

Along came Representative Shane Jett, a Navy man from out in the hinterlands of Oklahoma's 5th District whose consultant is the former Speaker of the House, Lance Cargill.  But Jett was overshadowed by the recent announcement that former Corporation Commissioner, former Congressman J.C. Watts endorsed a political newcomer, Mr. James Lankford.

Lankford shocked the Internet universe with his presence on Facebook - boasting over 10,000 fans on his page.  Of course, he hasn't utilized that resource to its fullest extent, but his uber-conservative posture has positioned him as "another Tom Coburn" by J.C. Watts. (Read the endorsement from the Muskogee Politico here.)

One would be hard-pressed to find a more bizarre set of circumstances in any political race than you would in the 5th District race.  And I haven't even mentioned the aggressiveness of Dr. Roy or Rick Flanigan. 

I'll keep you posted...