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Now that Saxby Chambliss has decided he doesn't want to have to face a primary race for his Senate seat, Rachel Maddow took her viewers through the list of potential replacements that would like to succeed him, and it's a doozy.

Georgia's Saxby Chambliss to retire:

Just a few months ago, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a two-term Republican incumbent from Georgia, started facing credible primary threats in advance of his 2014 re-election bid. In a bit of a surprise, the senator has said there won't be a re-election campaign -- Chambliss is retiring at the end of his term (via James Carter). [...]

The news was not widely expected, and Chambliss was expected to win re-election if he sought another term.

What's especially interesting now, however, is the field of Republican candidates who may try to succeed Chambliss in 2014. One of the leading GOP officials to watch is Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who said just this week that was considering taking on Chambliss in a primary, and with the incumbent stepping down, the congressman is that much more likely to run himself.

That would set up quite a campaign -- Broun is one of Congress' more ridiculous members, and a Senate campaign would create an Akin-in-Missouri situation in which a candidate may simply be too nutty to compete on a statewide level, even in the South. In this case, Broun is perhaps best known for arguing that that cosmology, biology, and geology are, quite literally, "lies straight from the pit of Hell," and that President Obama only believes in supporting "the Soviet constitution."

In other words, even among loony extremists, Broun is almost a caricature of himself.

This matters because Georgia could prove to be far more interesting than expected. In 2008, when Chambliss sought a second term, he won by a narrow margin after being forced into a runoff when he won 49% of the vote on Election Day. Since then, Georgia's population has only grown more diverse.

If a strong Democratic candidate faced off against a ridiculous right-wing extremist, could this become a blue-to-red pick-up opportunity? Quite possibly, yes.

We've got more on Broun here: Is Paul Broun the dumbest member of Congress? Signs point to Yes and here: Rep. Paul Broun: Evolution, Embryology, and the Big Bang Theory are 'Lies Straight from the Pit of Hell'.

And as Rachel mentioned, another potential candidate is Karen Handel whose anti-abortion views are so extreme they just about took down a cancer charity: Former Susan G. Koman Exec May Run For Senate In Georgia.

And then there's Todd Akin's buddy Phil Gingrey: Republican Congressman Backs Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments: ‘He’s Partly Right’.

Steve Benen's article also mentioned Herman Cain, but Rachel informed her viewers that alas, Cain has said he's not running.

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When you hear diehard conservatives like Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss talk about raising taxes on the wealthy you know things are getting interesting in Washington. The so-called "fiscal cliff" gives Republicans a golden opportunity to strike a deal which will also include cutting entitlements. The smarter among them realize this and are making their moves. Now, no one has ever accused Saxby Chamblliss of being all that smart but he is at least shrewd enough to figure this out, despite the threat of later being primaried by someone like Karen Handel, disgraced former vp at the Susan G. Komen foundation and a former Georgia Sec of State.

Via WMAZ, in Macon, GA.

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said solving the nation's fiscal woes may mean breaking the anti-tax pledge he signed years ago.

Chambliss signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, penned by conservative activist Grover Norquist.

"I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge," Chambliss says. "If we do it his way then we'll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that." [...]

Now Chambliss says he wants to do what it takes to right the U.S. fiscal ship, even if that means findings ways to raise revenue, which Norquist strongly opposes.

Does Chambliss think Norquist will hold the anti-tax pledge against him during his next re-election bid in 2014? Yes.

"But I don't worry about that because I care too much about my country. I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist," Chambliss says.

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After her resignation earlier today, Karen Handel gave Megyn Kelly her first interview. I'm amazed she waited three hours before dishing before the hungry hordes of right-wing viewers, but she did.

Without transcribing the whole thing right now, I'll give you the high level overview. Handel claims the Komen Foundation was 'desperately trying to move to neutral ground' on the Planned Parenthood issue after being under pressure by right-wing groups for years. In her world, there was absolutely nothing political about the decision to pursue a strategy of finding an excuse to withdraw future grant approvals due to ongoing investigations, political or otherwise. She claims that this was an issue before she arrived and she was assigned the task of finding a strategy to deal with it.

As for the resignation, she did it because the outcry was focused on her, so she "took one for the team." This is also why, according to Handel, she refused severance pay. After all, she said, "Komen is a non-profit organization dedicated to the mission of breast cancer awareness, detection and treatment," leaving the suggestion that she was taking the high road and allowing them to use all of their funds for that mission.

Of course, she failed to acknowledge that with a severance package, she also wouldn't be at liberty to appear on Megyn's show.

After watching this interview, I'm inclined to think Ilyse Hogue has the right analysis of Handel's actions.

The way that this entire saga unfolded points to the work of a political master. While I have no love lost for the Susan G. Komen foundation, if I were their board, I would be angry and sheepish about having my organization used as a political stepping stone and then left as collateral damage for an ambitious self-serving culture crusader. Make no mistake: we’ve not heard the last of Karen Handel. And when she surfaces to tell her story, people should remember: she’s not the victim, she’s a sophisticated political operator who may have gotten exactly what she wants.

Compare and contrast Handel's tone and attitude with Cecile Richards from Planned Parenthood:

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Susan G. Komen for the Cure Vice President Karen Handel drove the foundation's decision to defund Planned Parenthood for purely political reasons, according to emails reviewed by The Huffington Post.

"The emails show that Karen Handel was behind the entire decision to defund Planned Parenthood," The Huffington Post's Laura Bassett told CNN's Soledad O'Brien Monday. "She was behind the strategy to develop the new criteria for who can be funded and she's been behind the PR effort to clean up what's happened since the decision was announced."

"What I understand is that Karen Handel, since she was hired back in April, has been kind of pumping up and magnifying the attacks against Komen and the anti-Planned Parenthood protests and whatnot, and trying to get the board and trying to get Komen leadership on her side as part of this decision to defund Planned Parenthood."

In a posting on her blog last year, Handel made no secret of her opposition to Planned Parenthood.

"First, let me be clear, since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood," she wrote.

In a video posted to YouTube last week, Komen’s Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker denied that politics played any role in the decision.

"It was a boldface lie," Bassett explained. "Karen Handel had a political agenda against Planned Parenthood. And I know that Komen founder Nancy Brinker went on Andrea Mitchell Thursday and said that Karen Handel had nothing to do with this; this was not political. That's simply not true. And if you're a cancer charity, you have no business lying to the public about what's going on behind closed doors."

While Komen reversed its decision on Friday and made Planned Parenthood eligible for future grants, many will not be satisfied until Handel is ousted from the organization.

CREDO action, a super PAC run by one San Francisco phone company, has already gathered over 24,000 signatures demanding that Komen fire Handel.