Kara Russo is on the front page of the Providence Journal again today. She’s the Republican Party’s version of the ex-girlfriend who keeps driving by your house. But I actually have some sympathy– not for any of her views, but for the way she must feel losing to Heidi Rogers, who instantly decided she had other priorities and dropped out.

Bob Kerr at ProJo.com compared the Republican slate in the Lt. Governor’s race to a shell game. Whichever you pick, you lose.

[Heidi] Rogers got some people’s attention. She looked like a candidate, sounded like a candidate, even made a few of the usual candidate moves in what was not a high-powered run to be second-string governor.

Then, after she won the primary for lieutenant governor, she wasn’t a candidate anymore.

And the damn pea was under the shell in the middle, not the one on the right.

People have been had. They thought things were in place that weren’t. They thought a name on the ballot meant something.

This is just so low rent, so tacky and insulting. It is toying with the voters, playing games with the process.

Read the rest here– very funny and on target.

If I had given a single buck, or made a single phone call for Heidi Rogers, I’d feel scammed.

As it was, I voted for Elizabeth Roberts with enthusiasm. She is a strong advocate for health care, and our current governor has not been a team player.

I recall a certain snowstorm– because I sat in traffic for three hours. Though there’s plenty of blame to go around, a governor who waltzed off with the keys in his pocket and no provision for emergencies made a bad situation much worse.

Will we have a more functional state government this time around? At least there’s hope that the Gov and Lt.Gov will be on speaking terms.