Mike Grimm won't back down

Mike Grimm, a contender for the Republican nomination to oust Mike McMahon from his congressional seat in the 2010 election, has a smoldering fire in his belly.

The possible candidate has been on the wrong end of some inter-party country club politics over the past few weeks, but has vowed to keep on trucking.

"I believe our country is on a very dangerous path," Grimm said when we spoke with him last month. "People are angry. People are more conservative here and they are not for a Nancy Pelosi agenda."

Then the roof at the Hilton Garden Inn started to cave on Grimm.

First an executive committee of the SI Republican Party made the unfathomable choice of Vito Fossella to run against McMahon (he eventually declined). Then the SI Conservative Party's executive committee threw their support behind Democrat incumbent McMahon(!?). And the final straw in Grimm's rejection trifecta was the GOP's county committee endorsement of Mike Allegretti for the nomination, after Vito's trial balloon barely made it up Todt Hill.

Grimm sent a preemptive jab to the county committee.

"I’ve decided on a much fairer forum," Grimm said in a letter preceding the county committee convention, "foregoing your nomination process, and taking my candidacy directly to the Republican voters in a Republican Primary in September."

Grimm is a principled conservative, a veteran, a Tea Party acolyte, an energizing force in the current quest to oust a Democrat from the 13th district.

The question is whether Grimm will go down swinging and how many blows he will try to land. A primary? Will he take his own nomination to the conservative line?

If Grimm's fiery rhetoric and passionate positions are any indication we wouldn't count this guy out. Anything that bucks the trend of the Country Club selection process and gives the choice back to the people is a welcome step in our book.