Today's typically breathless Politico headline:

Forecast for Dem primaries: Ugly

And lede [emphasis added]:

Republicans aren't the only ones staring at the unnerving prospect of a 2010 primary season filled with smash-mouth intraparty contests that threaten to distract the party and leave Senate nominees bloodied and cash-depleted.

In a handful of next year's most competitive Senate races — and for a few of the Democratic Party's most precariously perched incumbents — discordant Democratic primaries are already taking shape, complicating a midterm election landscape in which the party will be playing defense for the first time in four years.

A couple things here. Politico suddenly thinks it's just amazing and shocking that Democrats are competing in primaries. Why Politico expresses such astonishment is unclear, since the primary system has been in place for many many generations. Yet for some reason Politico suggests the Democratic primaries next cycle could cripple the party.

And hey, if Politico wants to play dumb, it wouldn't be the first time. But the article really falls apart when Politico starts lumping in Democratic primaries in which there is no Democratic incumbent. Meaning, we all know the notion of a contested primary is really only interesting and newsworthy if an entrenched incumbent faces a stiff intraparty challenger, the way Joe Liberman was defeated in the Democratic primary in CT. in 2006.

It is a big deal when a primary challenger takes on an incumbent and makes a strong run at the party's favorite. And from the headline of the Politico piece, you'd think that's what's happening to Democrats all across the country. Except as you read the article, Politico quickly focuses on Democratic races in Kentucky and Illinois, where, in 2010, there will be no Democratic incumbent running for re-election. In those instances, the primaries are just old fashion open contests, and the fact that several Democratic candidates are battling to win their party's nomination in those states is not news at all. In fact it's utterly mundane. It happens all the time. But Politico decides to treat it like a very big deal.

In the end, the only truly contested Democratic primary that Politico points to is the one in Pennsylvania, which is hardly surprising since the incumbent, Sen. Arlen Specter, recently switched over from the GOP, and everybody knew that would spark a strong primary challenge.

So yes, the only thing “ugly” in this primary story is Politico's (GOP-friendly) analysis.