Friday’s political round-up

August 19, 2005

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* William Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, has finally acknowledged publicly that he plans to run for governor of New York next year. Weld said he was encouraged by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Karl Rove.

* Ohio Gov. Bob Taft (R) was convicted on state ethics violations yesterday, but vowed to serve the rest of his second term, which ends next year. State GOP officials, however, aren’t as confident. Party officials acknowledged making calls to GOP county chairmen to gauge the level of backing for Taft and whether there is a growing sentiment for him to resign.

* As if Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum didn’t have enough to worry about, he’s now facing the prospect of a primary challenge next year. Real estate broker John Featherman (R) said this week he plans to take on Santorum, offering Pennsylvania Republicans a moderate alternative. Featherman said he is running because “government should get out of our bedrooms and pocketbooks.”

* Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon (D) said he is “very interested” in challenging Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt (R) in the 2008 election. Nixon, in his fourth term as attorney general, previously has hinted about seeking higher office and his comments Thursday were his strongest yet about his political ambitions.

* Though Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) has only been on the job for 10 months, he’s already receiving encouragement back home to run for governor in 2006. Dem urgency picked up this month when millionaire Rutt Bridges pulled out of the race, leaving the party scrambling for a top-tier candidate in this competitive open-seat race. In response to the overtures, however, Salazar said he cannot “foresee a circumstance at this point where I would decide to run.”

* Some Virginia Dems believe Republican Sen. George Allen may be vulnerable next year, but they can’t find an opponent for him. Former Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D) and former congressman L.F. Payne Jr. (D) are the latest to indicate they are not interested in running against Allen next year, though Beyer remains open to the possibility. He didn’t, however, sound enthusiastic about it, saying, “I’m hoping we can get a candidate other than me.”

* A new Quinnipiac poll in New York’s mayoral race shows some movement among the Dems hoping to take on Michael Bloomberg later this year. Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer continues to lead the pack with 33%, but Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller are tied for second at 17%, and Rep. Anthony Weiner is right behind them with 16%.

Several thoughts on today’s typically outstanding political round-up”

(A) Will the Dems and the CCCP (Compliant Complicit Corporate Press) paint and label Weld as a “carpetbagger” as was Hillary when she relocated to New York in 2000? No offense intended, Mr. C.B.!

(B) It seems that Missouri’s Blunt is very vulnerable, and a Dem that has already been elected to statewide office already has name recognition that should spell Blun’t political doom. Terrific!

(C) Quere: IF Salazar runs for Governor, and wins, would he be allowed under Colorado law to appoint his own replacement as Senator?

(D) On a general note, I am perplexed at all of the apparently “strong” Dems who have been saying “no” to challenging very vulnerable Rethugs, especially in the Senate. I’ve not had as much insight in the past regarding the nominee selection process, so I don’t have any basis for comparison. Its seems that many Rethugs are vulnerable across the country at all political levels, so what gives? Is this a normal and typical “shaking out” or “vetting” of possible candidates? Or is it a sign of even more reluctance on the part of Dems to be bold and to forge ahead?

  • A.L.,

    I assume your “Point D” refers to Virginia.

    Jim Gillmore kicked Don Beyer’s butt in the ’97 gubernatorial election. And I had to google L.F. Payne to see that he left Congress after 1996 and apparently ran for Lieutenant Governor. I don’t remember Payne at all and I live in Virginia from ’93 to ’02. So neither Beyer nor Payne is top tier. I don’t know what Virginia Dems think Allen is particularly vulnerable. Maybe Governor Warner could beat him. But Allen’s father coached the Washington Redskins and George Allen is like revered in the DC area. And remember Allen defeated incumbent Chuck Robb.

  • (A) Will the Dems and the CCCP (Compliant Complicit Corporate Press) paint and label Weld as a “carpetbagger” as was Hillary when she relocated to New York in 2000? No offense intended, Mr. C.B.!

    No offense taken. The Dems will almost certainly steer clear of the “carpetbagger” charge because of Hillary. In truth, it’ll be harder to make it stick since Weld was born in New York and has lived there for a couple of years. Regardless, he can’t beat Spitzer.

    (B) It seems that Missouri’s Blunt is very vulnerable, and a Dem that has already been elected to statewide office already has name recognition that should spell Blun’t political doom. Terrific!

    I couldn’t agree more. Nixon can win this race and help turn Missouri around.

    (C) Quere: IF Salazar runs for Governor, and wins, would he be allowed under Colorado law to appoint his own replacement as Senator?

    He sure would. That’s one of the reasons state Dems are pushing for this option. That, and Salazar remains popular statewide.

    (D) On a general note, I am perplexed at all of the apparently “strong” Dems who have been saying “no” to challenging very vulnerable Rethugs, especially in the Senate.

    Frank Martin’s comment is right. Allen is considered vulnerable by Va. Dems because a recent poll showed him loosing to Mark Warner, but it’s more complicated than that. Having said that, your broader point is true — especially when you look at races like Sen. DeWine’s re-election in Ohio.

  • Carpetbagger and Analytical Liberal

    The possibility of Jay Nixon challenging Blunt for the governorship is giving me some hope here in the Sho Me state. Blunt has earned himself one of the lowest popularity ratings of governors in the US by cutting 90,000 people from the Medicaid program last month. If you want to know how bad it is, Schwarzenegger rates above only 3 governors in the US, Missouri’s governor is the next one above Schwarzenegger.

    Nixon has spent his time in office aggressively fighting fraud and waste and just generally looking out for the welfare of the state’s residents. I’m not sure where I read it but it seems like that we have one of the toughest no call laws in the country and Nixon has hauled a lot of violaters into court, this is in addition to prosecuting some high profile securities fraud cases.

    Just to let everyone know Republicans don’t have much going for them in this swing state right now. With high gas prices, our Medicaid problems, and the war in Iraq I’m talking to less and less people that think Bush is god and more people that are of the mindset that we need to throw these bums out of office. Can we do the 2005 elections over?

  • I dont want to hear anything else about Bob Taft. How is it a governor can be brought down for petty golf outings and the President of the United States gets away with massive war crimes, environment destruction and human rights violations worldwide?

  • Mark and Frank,

    Thanks for some “local flavor” of the political environment there in Missouri and Virginia. And Mark, I think you meant to ask, “Can we the 2004 elections over?” If we could, things would be a lot different.

    But since we are wishing to change the past, then I propose to re-do the 2000 elections instead, and a LOT would be different in the U.S. and in the world. What a shame, and what a waste of so many opportunities….

    As usual, Mr. C.B., I appreciate your replies to some of my musings today!

  • Vicky,

    Don’t forget how Clinton was almost
    brought down lying about an affair
    that was nobody’s business.

  • I agree DeWine is vulnerable in Ohio, but we have to remember that DeWine is no political slouch. John Glenn won with 51% of the vote in the ’92 Ohio Senate race while DeWine took 42%. But when Howard Metzenbaum retired in ’94, DeWine ran and won taking 53% of the vote while Joel Hyatt, Metzenbaum’s son-in-law, took only 39%. DeWine was a Lieutenant Governor and was considered “moderate” in Ohio. So while he may be vulnerable, it will take a pretty good candidate to beat him. Some people are trying to get Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman to run for Senate rather than Governor. And Paul Hackett is supposedly looking at running against DeWine. The Governor’s race will drive the ’06 elections in Ohio. Any statewide candidate will only run as well as the gubernatorial candidate’s organization provides GOTV activity. A strong gubernatorial race will help the Senate candidate. But a strong Senate race will not necessarily help the gubernatorial candidate.

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