The extremely reluctant pro-choice candidate for John Cornyn’s Texas senate seat, Mikal Watts, is tired of torturing his children and has dropped out of the race. Watts is a wealthy attorney who pledged to spend millions of his own money trying to out-conservative box-turtle Cornyn. His absence makes it almost certain that state Sen. Rick Noriega, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, will be the Democratic nominee. Markos commissioned a poll of this race in September. It showed Cornyn with a 51%-35% advantage. That’s actually not too bad as a starting point. John Cornyn is one of the worst half-dozen members of the Senate. If we can beat him in a presidential election year it will be an exclamation point on the failed Bush presidency. You can contribute to Noriega’s campaign here. I’m glad he doesn’t have to worry about a well-funded primary opponent.

What’s on your electoral radar?