A funny thing happened on the way to the Brad and Bernie show.
For those of us who get tired of poll-driven empty rhetoric, the idea of two smart, quick-witted, irreverent Raleigh boys ideologically jousting this fall sounded like high political entertainment.
But it is by no means certain that Bernie Reeves, the editor of Metro Magazine and conservative columnist, will get a chance to challenge 13th District Democratic Rep. Brad Miller in November.
Reeves is in a tough Republican primary runoff with Bill Randall, a retired Navy command master chief from Wake Forest, who has been active in the tea party movement.
In the first primary, Randall led by 135 votes, with 32.5 percent of the vote, compared to Reeves who received 31.8 percent. The rest was divided between two other candidates.
Both are conservatives. Reeves is the inside-the-Beltline candidate who is a Raleigh fixture. He started the Spectator, Metro Magazine, The Triangle Business Journal and the Raleigh Spy Conference, and has been denouncing creeping socialism for as long as most of us can remember.
He has the backing of much of the old Jesse Helms crowd, including such key strategists as Tom Ellis and Carter Wrenn.
Randall, a native of New Orleans, is outside the Beltline, representing the new wave of suburban voters who make up a significant portion of the Republican Party.
Reeves can't believe some newbie might take the nomination from him. During a televised debate last week on NBC-17, Reeves repeatedly mentioned that Randall had lived in the area for only 18 months.
When Reeves said he could appeal to conservative Democrats who only registered that way because their parents told them to, Randall said that sounded patronizing.
Reeves hit the ceiling.
"When I talk about the people who live here, it's because I know them," Reeves said. "You've lived here 18 months. What right do you have to make pronouncements about the mores and activities if you don't know the history, you don't know the culture, you don't know the businesses? You might know the geography from your travels. That's the extent of it."
But Reeves might be suffering from inside-the-Beltline myopia. There are lots of Republican voters who are recent arrivals like Randall.
With the June 22 runoff this close, things have gotten a bit rough.
The Reeves campaign has accused Randall of plagiarizing the works of other conservatives on his website. Randall said it was the mistake of a former staffer.
Randall supporters have accused Reeves of using inappropriate language to a woman in a civic club speech three years ago. Reeves said he doesn't remember it, but says if he said it, he is very sorry.
Randall favors tea parties over tee times.
"I believe we need to go away from politics as usual," Randall said.
Later this month, we'll find out whether we will have the Brad vs. Bernie or the Brad vs Bill show.