“I don't think he's a serious candidate,” said former state Democratic Chair Molly Beth Malcolm. “Filing deadline's not there yet. I'm hoping there's some other names.”Political consultant Glenn Smith said (Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Marc) Katz is not the “ideal” candidate: “He's an affable guy who's got a good restaurant. But, as his mayoral bid demonstrated, he lacks a certain something on the stump.”
Katz said his 2003 bid for Austin mayor failed because “I didn't know what I was doing.”
Or perhaps the DeLay slayer works his way in.
Former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who most recently got national attention for his prosecution of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, said Friday that he is "leaning toward" running for governor in the 2010 Democratic primary. Earle, 67, said he hadn’t set a timetable but will probably make a decision "sooner rather than later."
I still prefer the straight-talking cattleman from Whitehouse, personally. And I agree with jobsanger ...
Earle is not going to cut into Kinky Friedman's base -- they'll vote for Kinky no matter who else is running. He's also not going to cut into Tom Schieffer's base -- these conservatives will not support someone as liberal as Earle as long as there's a real conservative in the race. That means he'll be splitting the liberal/progressive vote with Hank Gilbert, and that means there will be less chance of a liberal/progressive candidate winning the primary.
At least things are getting interesting. I think the most important thing to note is that Kay Bailey's stated strategy of pulling Democrats into the Republican primary in March to vote for her is a failing one. She should now be thinking seriously of not running, because her success is increasingly based on the appeal to GOP primary voters of the two candidates running to the right of Rick Perry: Larry Kilgore and Debra Medina.
If that happens -- Kay staying put in the Senate, that is -- then the scrum among Bill White and John Sharp, as well as David Dewhurst and Roger Williams and Michael Williams and all the other ladies and gentemen is completely moot. Ted Cruz and Dan Branch and the millions they have raised for a run for attorney general, based entirely on the supposition that Greg Abbott moves up to replace Dewhurst as lite guv, have to sit tight ... or transfer to some other contest.
If Kay goes on and quits the Senate though, then the game's afoot. John Sharp says the special could be held within 37 days of her resignation, though I believe it will likely happen during the holiday season.
More popcorn, anyone?
Update: Lisa Hernandez of the Carreno Group has the "wise-Latina-consultant" perspective.
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