Wednesday, September 21st, 2005...12:48 pm
Sandra Dowling for Governor?
I was poking around on Espresso Pundit the other day, and he printed an e-mail that he got from Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa. Johnson was touting the candidacy of Maricopa County School Superintendent Sandra Dowling for Governor. I’m not sure how serious the speculation about Dowling is, here is a snippet from the e-mail that Espresso Pundit printed:
Just thought you would enjoy hearing about another name being bantered around for Governor – our own Maricopa County School Superintendent, Sandra Dowling. Now that would be a race! If I remember Sandra correctly, she is a bulldog and would give Janet quit [sic] a time of it – with all of Sandra’s credentials in Education, she might take the stage – front and center – from the Governor.
Doesn’t sound like it’s serious speculation to me.
An interesting phrase there is “If I remember Sandra correctly…” Does this mean that Johnson hasn’t talked to her lately? It really wouldn’t suprise me to find out that a Republican legislator doesn’t bother to talk often to the local officials that have to implement their hare-brained schemes, even when they are of their own party and county.
I also find it interesting that Johnson touts Dowling’s educational credentials, something that Johnson routinely ignores and belittles when it suits her legislative aims.
Even if this is serious speculation, Dowling is probably not going to be a strong candidate. It’s a funny thing, really. For a county official to run for governor, they need a pretty strong base. The only county to really have that right now is Maricopa. This is precisely the county where officials have very little visibility (Joe Arpaio and Andrew Peyton Thomas aside, but look what they have to do to get attention) because so many of their normal responsibilities are handled by the cities. We have had, in recent history, Maricopa county officials that have attempted to run for statewide office, thinking the population advantage would propel them to victory. Anyone remember Fred Koury? Yeah, no one else does either. He was a Maricopa County supervisor who got all the conservatives in Phoenix fired up. He got demolished in the primary by Fife Symington, who had as many years in elective office as Koury’s housecat.
The County School Superintendent’s office is very low key. Here in Pima County, for example, even educators would be hard pressed to tell you who Linda Arzoumanian is and what her job actually is. And in Pima County, the county officials tend to be much higher profile locally than county officials are in Phoenix, so imagine how hard it could be for Dowling to break out of the pack.
What is interesting is that even with one candidate with a famous name (Don Goldwater) and another with a strong legislative background (John Greene), yet another waiting in the wings (Ken Bennett), that they are still flailing around to find someone, anyone, who could put a dent in Janet Napolitano’s armor. Keep looking around, boys and girls.
NB - SurveyUSA has a list of the “Approval/Disapproval” ratings of all 50 governors. Napolitano is at a comfortable +24%.
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