Summer isn’t summer without a special election in Congress. I prefer to see a special election take place as the result of a corruption conviction or resignation from a nasty Republican, than as the result of the death of a moderately progressive member of the House like Juanita Millender-McDonald, but the special election will still be interesting to watch (and we may soon see resignations from Republican scam artists Virgil Goode and Rick Renzi).

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has two weeks to declare the date of the special election for the 37th congressional district in California that was represented by Millender-McDonald until her death from cancer this weekend. The election must take place between 112 and 126 days after the announcement by the Governor.

It is widely assumed that the Democrat will win the general election, so most of the attention will be in the selection of the Democrat, in what ought to be a strongly contested primary - as all primaries ought to be.