Shri Thanedar, who was unknown until six months ago, has spent millions of his fortune on TV ads in which he pokes fun at mispronunciations of his name, touts policy prescriptions like single-payer health care and, in recent days, jokes that some of the state's potholes are so big "you can see them from space."
Thanedar's ensuing rise in polling is no laughing matter, however, within a Democratic Party that has not controlled any significant lever of state government in years. Some Democrats have doubts about his party affiliation. Others worry that if Thanedar wins the August primary, Republicans will pounce on his spotty business record.
