Now, that's pretty pro-life.

Tom Coburn, a former member of the House of Representatives from Oklahoma, who is campaigning to become the Republican party's candidate to replace retiring Senator Don Nickles, recently said he supports the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions.

"I favor the death penalty," Coburn told the AP last week, "for abortionists and other people who take life.

The Republican primary is July 27th; the winner will face likely Democratic nominee Brad Carson.

Meanwhile, in this month's Oklahoma Observer, Frosty Troy says that poll Coburn is touting that only Coburn could compete with Carson in the general election was paid for by Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK5) because Inhofe "barred" Istook from running for the Senate seat. Inhofe, like Nickles and the rest of Oklahoma's GOP establishment, anointed Kirk Humphreys for the seat and are pissed that any other Republican would even consider those un-American concepts of democracy, issues, and voter choice.

Frosty also says there won't be any Democratic Senatorial debates this season, because despite being offered many many dates by Tulsa's Channel 2, Carson simply couldn't find the time to show up and debate Monte Johnson. He probably just doesn't want to be labeled as a Democrat.

Oh, by the way, OETA is profiling the GOP Senate candidates this week on their Oklahoma News Report, and in his interview, Humphreys not only bragged about his wealth, he bragged that he didn't inherit "a penny," and that was "more than some candidates in this race can say." That's a veiled swipe at Bob Anthony, whose grandfather, C.R. Anthony, founded one of Oklahoma's most successful clothing chains until the shareholders sold it to a venture capital group. I think the remaining stores are now Stage or something like that.

What the hell kind of message is Humphreys trying to send, anyway? He's supposedly for free enterprise, small family businesses, hometown stores, and against the inheritance tax so people like C.R. Anthony can pass their success down to their grandchildren - and now he's taking digs at Bob Anthony for being the poster child for those same policies? Or is he just against Anthony having succeeded in business before entering public life, unlike President Bush? Or is just against success that's so clean he can't use it against Anthony, as Anthony is doing against Humphreys' more questionable business dealings?

And the pundits wonder why Oklahoma voters aren't warming up to Humphreys - the anointed candidate who can't even support the results of the policies he likes...