One of the most puzzling phenomena in New York politics, to me at least, is how some races attract a gaggle of great candidates - witness, for example, the primary in the 19th district, excellently covered on Take 19 - while others leave onlookers with a faint desire to pretend that the race just isn't happening.

One such contest is the primary in the 10th Congresional district.

I had a conversation with Congressman Towns' chief of staff last year, after he failed to vote against the republican budget because he was, and I quote, "stuck in traffic on Capitol Hill". This because he had left the chamber to get some rest, it being rather late at night, and was unaware that the vote was coming up; after all, the man is of an age when most Americans, certainly those few of us with retirement benefits as generous as those accruing to Members of Congress, want to be retired someplace on a porch in Florida. So he took the night off, as it were.

She didn't disagree with me that this was a very feeble excuse.

Other than that, if you're looking for a poster boy for Democrats that vote for the corporate agenda, Towns is it. He voted for "bankruptcy reform"; against net neutrality; as noted, failed to vote against a republican budget filled with tax breaks for the super-wealthy; according to Project VoteSmart, Towns supports the agenda of the corporate-owned-and-paid-for U.S. Chamber of Commerce 60% of the time. On social issues, Towns is sterling; on economic issues, he might as well be from Utah.

So there's a case to be made - along David Sirota's lines, for example - that Towns should be afforded a comfortable retirement this November.

Unfortunately, his challengers are not cause for any comparable feelings of comfort. Running against Towns is Charles Barron (as well as Roger Green, a convicted felon. Ain't gonna happen). Another blogger writes me privately that he would conider Barron's presence in Congress a 'national disaster', and I'm inclined to agree. This despite the fact that Barron is the mirror image of Towns when it comes to economic issues, as his web site helpfully points out.

Chaired the Higher Education Committee of the City Council and secured an unprecedented $14 million for scholarships for students of City University of New York (CUNY)

Sponsored nine (9) pieces of legislation and co-sponsored fifty-two other pieces of legislation including the Living Wage Bill, the Predatory Lending Bill, a Reparations Resolution, and the legislation which provided for education and training of public assistance recipients.

My concern about Barron is simple: I've seen him debating Sean Hannity, to such effect that Hannity looked like the sane one. That's a remarkable achievement. My guess is that Barron would instantly become Fox' favorite House Democrat.

In terms of building a populist, Progressive Democratic House majority, Ed Towns' retirement would be a benefit. But his replacement with Charles Barron, frankly, would taint perfectly valid and appropriate issues with rhetoric that is at best divisive, at worst unhinged. My preference is for the adjective 'unhinged' to be ascribed solely to republicans, who have done more than enough to earn it. Someone who makes Sean Hannity look reasonable, a feat previously held to be unobtainable in a universe governed by rational physical laws, shouldn't be in Congress.

I don't envy the CD-10 voters their choices this year. K street sellout, felon or Barron; how inspiring.