Eric, the new guy at SoundPolitics is doing a good job so far, I think. He doesn’t employ the term “nutroots,” going for the more refined “netroots enthusiasts.” Which is very nice, I’ll take that. I’m an enthusiast of many things, the netroots included.

But, he doesn’t know the difference between Wheat and a Five Star Hotel:

All that indicates the voters in the 5th Congressional District have seen something about Cathy McMorris they like. On top of that, she’s doing well in office, taking leadership positions and working well on behalf of her district. So could someone please explain to me why liberal bloggers think Peter Goldmark is the “real deal” to take her out?

McMorris’ race isn’t listed on any of the independent, national watch lists for Congressional races; not the Cook Political Report, not Larry Sabato’s Center for Politics, not the National Journal. In addition, McMorris is easily outpacing Goldmark in fundraising.

Peter Goldmark seems like a decent, well-meaning fellow based on perusing his website. But that doesn’t mean in the least he’s a challenger to watch this election cycle. Yet more evidence the netroots is more anti-Republican emotionalism than serious political thought.

Since, Don Barbieri got trounced by McMorris a couple of years ago, logic would follow that any Democrat at all would also lose. Not so, because there is a big difference between Pete and Don.

For all his good qualities, Don ran very poorly outside of Spokane. Very poorly. This isn’t something that a person like Goldmark would repeat.

And, even though he outspent McMorris, well… he also outspent McMorris, making it look sometimes that with his money, he could buy the seat.

And, for Pete’s sake, there is a big cultural difference between Don and Pete. What do you think that matters? This isn’t simply about putting a Democrat in a cowboy hat and marching him around eastern Washington. Heck, you could have put Barbieri in a cowboy hat and it wouldn’t have mattered.

What matters is the substantive differences between Barbieri and Goldmark. One is runs hotels, the other horses.

Plus, this year doesn’t have Rossi vs. Gregoire and Bush vs. Kerry putting everything into context. This is pretty much Goldmark vs. McMorris time.

The Inlander has a pretty good article about the differences too, check it out:

I couldn’t imagine Barbieri losing to a woman who could do no better than top one vacuous statement with another. Then, one day, maybe three weeks before the election, I drove our college-age son down to Walla Walla to look over Whitman College, and I found my answer. By the time we arrived, it was clear: Barbieri had no chance. None whatsoever. From the city line to Walla Walla, all we saw were McMorris signs. Outside of Spokane, Barbieri was invisible.

Goldmark has good reason to believe he can do much better than did Barbieri in the rural areas and small towns. (It would be impossible to do worse.) And he must be tempted to go directly after Congresswoman McMorris’ most obvious vulnerability, her… ah, shall we say, aversion to substance? Then, if he can win in Spokane, maybe he can pull off an upset.