The Hill has a piece about the upcoming Senate race in Nevada. It seems Danny Tarkanian, son of coaching legend Jerry, is looking to unseat the Senate majority leader with the help of some of daddy's old players and other NBA notables the family has become chummy with over the years.
Among the better-known hoopsters rumored to be considering a Tarkanian assist is the popular, irrepressible, and politically minded Charles Barkley. (If Barkley runs for governor of Alabama as an Independent in 2014 as he pledged last year, I know at least a couple of tnr staffers who'd be tempted to run off and join his campaign.)
Now, I'm not questioning Barkley's fondness for Danny or his daddy. But Tark Jr. is running as a Republican. Assuming Barkley is even remotely serious about his politics, how energetically is he going to back a guy running to unseat the Democratic Senate leader and deliver a massive morale boost to a party of which Barkley has been loudly critical in recent years, including his 2006 explanation of why he left the GOP: "I was a Republican until they lost their minds."