For months we've been seeing Sen. David "NObama" Vitter with anywhere from a 10-20 percentage point lead over Democrat Charlie Melancon. In red state Louisiana. Game over. Right?

Not so fast. Last week's qualifying got everybody's attention. Especially Vitter's.

To the delight of Camp Melancon, Vitter now has a staunch conservative primary opponent, former state supreme court justice Chet Traylor of Monroe. He may not have much recognition outside that region, and he doesn't have a whole lot of time between now and primary election day that last Saturday in August. But he could force Vitter to finally talk publicly about the DC Madam scandal. To give voters more details. Or else risk giving squeamish Bible Belters a reason to turn away. And according to this story, Traylor will also attack Vitter over the Senator's decision to keep an aide on staff despite his disturbing scrapes with the law.

The primary challenge also forces Vitter to dig into his reported $5 million dollar war chest that he was saving for Melancon.

And Traylor is not Vitter's only concern before November. The 16 people running for the seat also include another Republican, Nick Accardo of Franklin. That brings the possibility of a runoff into play. There's also a former GOP member, state Rep. Ernest Wooton of Belle Chasse, running as an independent. So he goes straight to the November ballot. And he's reported to be "fiery," and "throwing hand grenades at (Vitter)." You can read more here.

Stay tuned for the harpooning and money drain on Vitter. This just got very interesting.