from msnbc.com's First Read:

Quote :

"The two most high profile anti-Iraq Republicans are Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) on the House side and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) on the Senate side. (BTW, apologies for using "anti-Iraq" as shorthand, as the two no doubt hoping for success in Iraq, but I digress...) The two now have something in common: potential '08 primary challengers who may have consituency to tap into simply because Jones and Hagel are on the wrong side of the Iraq issue as far as base Republicans are concerned. Hagel's primary challenge could come in the form of state Atty Gen. Jon Bruning. Hagel, of course, may choose not to seek re-election and either run for president (R or I) or simply retire from politics. Jones, meanwhile, who was one of the first Cong. GOPers to bolt on the president on Iraq, could face a primary challenge from a local county commissioner, Joe McLaughlin, who, by the way, is a retired infantry officer, according to published reports. Jones' North Carolina district covers the Outer Banks but also includes the famous Camp Lejeune, so it's a district that is likely to be very sympathetic to a pro-military (and possibly pro-Iraq) message. Keep an eye on both Jones and Hagel over the next year and see if Republicans in 2008 start punishing their anti-Iraq elected officials in a similar fashion that Democrats seemed to punish their pro-Iraq electeds (read: Joe Lieberman) in 2006. "

I grew up in this district, and it never really has competitive elections (or primaries in this case) so this will be fun. The district is made up of Camp Lejeune, but also Cherry Point. If you look at a NC district map, there are two big Eastern NC districts that are heavily gerrymandered. District 1 is "black eastern NC" and District 3 is "white eastern NC". District 3 is this district here. It's a hard district to see a Democrat ever winning unless there's massive snowbird migration.

Jones is pretty much your run-of-the-mill conservative on everything except the Iraq War. Be interesting to watch if this primary happens.

[Edited on May 14, 2007 at 11:02 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2007 11:00:32 AM

I'm from D1 and my fiancee is from D3. Jones has such strong historical support, he won't have much trouble. Some people still think they are voting for his Dad. He's one of those politicians who can do a 180 and take his supporters with him. He has a sincerity that is convincing (unlike someone like John Kerry who gets labeled a flip flopper).

5/14/2007 3:08:28 PM

I grew up in D3 and an admirer of Walter Jones. I've met him several times and seems to be a humble, yet capable leader. Therefore, I trust his opinion on Iraq and wish I could cast my ballot for him in 2008.

5/14/2007 3:43:01 PM

Jones ran as a Dem and lost to Eva. He switched parties so he could win the seat. You decide. Lots of people in his district already have vouched never to vote for him again because of his war vote. I say McLaughlin will sweep this if he can find plenty of major donors, or just steal Jones's.

5/21/2007 10:13:12 PM

The snowbird affect is what turned his district republican.

Now I have heard rumors that jones might leave the GOP.

5/22/2007 9:12:23 AM

It would be hilarious if Jones left the GOP. He might have pissed people off on the war, but he votes with Bush 86% of the time.

If it walks like a duck...

5/22/2007 5:43:25 PM

^very true. I just wonder what party he would go to if he left the GOP

5/22/2007 6:45:19 PM

Independent. Or in other words, he won't change his party. Regardless of what the one guy above said, this guy's not a Democrat based on how he votes. Jones is the person that came up with "freedom fries".

[Edited on May 22, 2007 at 7:35 PM. Reason : .]

5/22/2007 7:33:22 PM

Yeah, and then he asked that freedom fries be removed from the Rayburn Cafeteria because he was ashamed of his prior actions. But no, he did not come up with the idea of freedom fries. Some other person in Beaufort did. Here's National Journal's 2006 ratings:

5/23/2007 10:05:48 AM