Will Mickey challenge Barbara?

It might be just a publicity stunt or a prank, but Mickey Kaus, the longtime blogger for Slate.com, has acknowledged that he has picked up filing papers to enter the Democratic primary against Calif. Sen. Barbara Boxer. If he actually turns the papers in, it could be quite interesting. Mickey is what might be called a neoliberal in the tradition of Washington Monthly's Charley Peters -- liberal values and objectives, but little patience for government waste or public-employee unions. He was a big advocate of the welfare reform bill Clinton finally signed in 1996 for the novel reason that it got cheaters off the rolls, provided more effective benefits for those who really needed it, and helped train people to wean themselves from welfare. You'd think any real liberal would be for that, but few were.

It all suggests Babs just might be vulnerable.