The truth about the so-called "On The Radar" list.

So, Jaime Herrera made a really BIG deal out of getting her name on the "On The Radar" list at the NRCC.

I thought it was odd that such a weak candidate, given her inside pull and baby-sitting by McMorris Rogers and Slade and all that, someone with no experience, someone with less credibility, someone who hadn't even lived in the district for 11 out of the past 13 years... someone who had never worked in the private sector, someone lacking in education or what I would like to think was "congressional-level intelligence" and someone with such a weak fund raising quarter and so on, rose to the level of any particular of listing by anyone... let alone the NRCC.

But of course, the reason for such an asterix after her name is McMorris-Rogers, who Jaime poured coffee for (relatively speaking) as a low level staffer in McMorris's office for a couple of years.

Or so I thought.

But as it turns out, the real deal is this:

Republican operatives are quick to point out that their third-tier "On the Radar" candidates need to meet only very basic goals -- for example, build a website, have a Federal Election Commission reporting system in place, have available a very basic media package, etc. -- and that candidates in this category don't necessarily have a path to victory yet.

I had no idea that the criteria was, politically speaking, that you could walk upright and chew gum and make that list.

Until now.

Combining this with her Obama-like campaign:

...the young legislator came across as super-serious, self-possessed and somewhat
scripted. She brought to mind memories of Tracy Flick, the student body
politician played by Reese Witherspoon in the movie "Election."

Herrera used the word "prioritize" several times, talked vaguely about "changing directions", and used such timeless Republican bromides as: "An effective jobs program is not going to come from Washington, D.C.

Where she tries to sell herself is on personality alone (of course, missing the big picture, since she has no personality) without specifics. And between her total lack of any appreciable qualifying background and her penchant for speaking only in glittering generalities, why, we have...

Obama lite.

Maybe not in her political view, which is entirely what McMorris Rogers wants it to be, but in the idea of electing an empty suit that has no clue what she's doing, save for what she's told to do.

As it turns out, under the criteria set to make this "list," David Castillo should also have been included. Here, the influence of McMorris-Rogers can be clearly seen as there's no mention of Castillo anywhere in NRCC land; not because he doesn't merit said mention, but because, like her appointment to the 18th District seat, an appointment fixed almost from the very beginning; the fix was in to put Herrera on the list and to keep Castillo off it.

You truly do learn something new every day. Like it isn't nearly as big of a deal as Herrera and her cult-followers have made it out to be.

One of many problems facing Herrera is that she will be crushed in every debate she goes to by David Castillo. He is going to become like a shock collar to her, where every time she opens her mouth, some one's going to press the button and her face will screw up like she's just bit into a lemon. She will come to find out that charm and personality (of which she has neither) will take you only so far before you become a political footnote.

And with any luck at all, come August, that's what she will be.