Looking to next year

The election for Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District seat held by Eric Cantor, minority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, is more than a year away. But already the campaign is heating up.

We’ve seen a lot of activity in the past few weeks that could make this race, unlike years past, a little more interesting — if only because Mr. Cantor already has two outspoken challengers.

On Sept. 15, Richmond-area Demo-crat Charlie Diradour launched his campaign in dramatic fashion with a YouTube video that attacked Mr. Cantor — sometimes inaccurately — for using his BlackBerry during the president’s speech to Congress. A week later, Floyd Bayne, another Richmond-area resident, joined the fray as an independent with libertarian leanings.

During all of this, the Democrat who lost to Mr. Cantor in 2008, Anita Hartke, dropped out of the race, citing a need to care for her ill mother. Ms. Hartke earned 37 percent of the vote last November — which doesn’t seem like a lot until you consider it’s the most any opponent has ever received against the five-term incumbent.

So: Cantor vs. Diradour vs. Bayne?

We have a long way to go until the election, and anything can happen. The truth is, however, that it remains Mr. Cantor’s race to lose. Challengers Diradour and Bayne have their work cut out for them.