With the political world convulsing after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's shocking primary defeat last night, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander's primary foe, state Rep. Joe Carr, went on CNBC this morning to explain why he believes he's the next Republican giant slayer.

"I think Sen. Alexander has a similar problem that Leader Cantor had in that he's out of touch with his Republican base," Carr said.

Carr has a problem of his own. He hasn't been moving the needle much with that Republican base.

Cantor's defeat has stirred up some grassroots activity. An email circulating amongst West Tennessee Tea Party types, which bears the subject line "Help Lamar Alexander retire" and cites Cantor's loss, found its way to our inbox this morning. But while Carr has been trying to rile up supporters with the prospect of him becoming the next Chris McDaniel or Dave Brat, there is another possibility. He could be the next Lee Bright.

Who's that? You probably don't know because he's the right-wing challenger who establishment-Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham crushed last night. That result went unaddressed in Carr's CNBC appearance and in his email blasts to supporters. Ditto Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's blowout of his Tea Party-backed challenger Matt Bevin.

In the hours after Cantor's defeat, indications were that he hadn't taken the primary too seriously.From WaPo:

As late as Tuesday morning, Cantor had felt so confident of victory that he spent the morning at a Starbucks on Capitol Hill, holding a fundraising meeting with lobbyists while his constituents went to the polls.

And:

Several said they believed that Cantor had mismanaged his campaign, with a strategy in which he was too aloof and his tactics too aggressive. In Virginia, some Republicans perceived him as having grown removed from his 7th Congressional District, spending too much time on national fundraising and Washington infighting.

By contrast, Lamar had every one of Tennessee's Republican heavies — save the radioactive Congressman Scott DesJarlais — lined up behind his re-election campaign in December of 2012. Unlike Cantor, he hasn't been gallivanting around helping other Republicans raise money with his sights set on the speaker's gavel. He's been raising bucket loads of money for himself, for more than a year and he's currently sitting with $3 million on hand. And an Alexander aide tells Pith that over his 12 years in the Senate, Lamar has spent more than half of his nights in Tennessee, despite the fact that Senators must be on Capitol Hill Monday through Thursday for Senate business. Brat also had the advantage of a small congressional district, where Carr has to get votes across a very wide state and multiple media markets.

Every indication is that the Cantor earthquake doesn't have anyone in Lamarland too worried. Their strategy was "overwhelming force" from the beginning.

In a statement, campaign spokesman Brian Reisinger says “Senator Alexander is doing what he’s always done: staying connected with Tennessee and being the best senator he can possibly be.”

Dave Brat proved it's possible to take down an incumbent even if the political press has hardly heard of you. Unfortunately for Joe Carr, it's probably a bit harder when a majority of voters haven't.