It looks like U.S. Rep. Jon Porter may have a viable Democratic foe after all. Tessa Hafen, longtime press secretary to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, quit her job late Friday evening and is planning to move back to Nevada. Although Hafen told us at Various Things & Stuff this morning that she hasn’t made up her mind about challenging Porter, it looks to us like it’s a go.

It’s a big move for Hafen, who grew up in Nevada and still has relatives everywhere, including her father, Henderson City Councilman (and potential future mayor) Andy Hafen. And she’s got her ex-boss, Reid, in her corner, and Reid hasn’t been a fan of Porter for at least a few years. If Reid actually shows up for this race, it could certainly be a contest.

But make no mistake: It won’t be easy. Porter’s 3rd Congressional District is almost evenly split in voter registration — 145,267 Democrats to 145,296 Republicans with 54,214 “non-partisans,” according to the latest figures from the secretary of state’s office. But those Republicans tend to turn out and vote more, which gives Porter a slight advantage.

Also there’s Porter’s campaign consultants, November Inc., headed by the formidable Mike Slanker, who vivisected ex-Assemblyman David Goldwater and ex-casino executive Tom Gallagher with equal skill in 2004. Slanker knows how to run campaigns, and we predict his lines of attack will be thus, with mitigating factors in parenthesis:

• She’s too young. (Then again, Porter was a wee lad when he first got elected to the Boulder City Council long ago.)

• She’s too connected to Reid. (Then again, Porter is too connected to ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Who do you think will have more negative impact with voters?)

• She’s a Washington insider carpetbagging her way to Nevada to run against Porter, probably at Reid’s behest. (Then again, Hafen did grow up in Nevada and didn’t Porter once move to challenge U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley?)

On issues of ethics and morality, which entombed long-ago Porter foe (and current federal indictee) Dario Herrera, Hafen is clean. And since she isn’t wealthy with vacation homes spread around the country, it’s unlikely the Gallagher attack will work on her, either.

Insiders are also counting on the ethical scandals plaguing the Republican Congress to help Hafen. Porter himself has not been found to have done anything even remotely unethical, thus far, so a direct attack is unlikely. But he has sucked up like few others to the Republican leaders who are now under suspicion. It’s not a bad strategy for a new guy looking to advance to a committee where he can send some pork back to his home state. It is a bad strategy when it turns out some of the guys you’re sucking up to sold their offices, or at least sublet them cheaply, in order to raise money and stay in power.

As a result, look for Porter to continue pounding the reform drum that saw him attack Reid and Berkley recently, calling on them to return money from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Thus far, he’s misstepped — the guy he’s backing to be the new majority leader, U.S. Rep. John Boehner, has thus far also refused to return Abramoff money and differs with Porter on key issues like stem cell research. But he’ll be talking like a first-time challenger soon, you just watch.

As far as we at Various Things & Stuff are concerned, we love it. Much like a blowout football game, a one-sided political contest is a sad affair. Things are much better when there’s some competition, and, regardless of anything else, Hafen will surely bring that to a bid against Porter.