Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

So I was reading the Washington Post online and I came across a sentence written by Greg Sargent, who writes "The Plum Line" blog, that made me pause a moment: "Sure, some conservatives are grumbling about the final deal, and one Tea Party group is threatening to primary Boehner." (emphasis added) At first I thought, "I have never heard primary used as a verb — I'm pretty sure it's either an adjective or a noun." Then, however, it occurred to me that in the current political environment, with a sort of ideological cleansing occurring on the right wing, the threat to launch a primary challenge from the far right against an incumbent viewed by some as "not right wing enough" is actually something happening with much frequency. So after that thought, I decided that primary used as a verb, meaning "to advocate or mount or support a challenge in a primary election to an ideologically unsatisfactory incumbent office-holder," seems useful to me. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen it used this way, but I kind of like it. (By the way, Boehner was probably the biggest "winner" in this budget fiasco, so it seems ridiculous that anyone would see the outcome as warranting a challenge to his office.)

Any thoughts?