Wednesday, March 4th, 2009...11:05 am
A Good Sign
In all the recriminations among party activists about the decision to hire a “head hunter” to help out with the search for an executive director, folks have missed out on a small but important sign for the next two years of the party.
In my post about the hiring of the firm, I think I left the impression that Jim Pederson pushed for this move as a way to keep Terry Goddard from having total control of the party. That is not entirely the case. Both Goddard and Pederson supported this move. I think that’s a good sign for the way they will be running their probable race against each other next year.
Either one could have chosen to make the decision of executive director an ugly first salvo previewing next year’s gubernatorial primary. They chose not to. These are two ambitious men, but they chose to make sure that their rivalry did not hurt the party. I think it says a lot about the two of them.
Who knows, we could have a civil primary for governor and not end up with a wounded, limping nominee.
11 Comments
March 4th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
“…..we could have a civil primary for governor and not end up with a wounded, limping nominee.” Tim Nelson and Gerald Richard set the standard for this last year. Their behavior made me proud to be a Dem, and I’m glad Goddard and Pederson show signs of doing the same.
March 4th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Either way, boring, boring. Pederson is well known to dems, but struggles to make his case outside the dem strongholds. Goddard looks and acts too geeky. I could be wrong, I’m no expert like you all, to be sure. I continue to wish that general guy would skip the race against mccain and run for gov. Now, that would be a horse I’d bet on.
March 4th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Jane,
Keep in mind that Goddard came within a hair of being elected Governor in the Republican year of 1994.
Pederson did struggle a bit in his race against Kyl, but he did pretty well for a first time candidate. I believe that he would be able to win if he was nominated.
Here in rural Arizona I’d have to say that Goddard starts out with a huge edge, people genuinely like him here. That’s not to say though that Pederson couldn’t make a case here, just he will have to do so more effectively than he did three years ago.
March 4th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Let’s just wait & see what AG Goddard does with those May 2006 RTA ballots. It’s all up to him now, or the Dems down in Pima County may end up supporting Pederson.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Not to be discriminatory but merely acknowledging political reality, and not that it even necessarily would be a liability, but simply to ask the question:
Does anybody remember the last time a 68 year old was elected to a first term as Governor? Anywhere, if not here?
March 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I have to say that while both Terry and Jim are good people and both would probably be good Governors, they both make for lousy candidates. The AG has never shown the capacity to raise money or build organization, and Pederson, while talented in many respects is not a good retail candidate. That said, Jim does have a ton of money.
And Carol – if you really think that what AG Goddard does with the RTA ballots is going to affect the outcome of the primary in Pima, I want what you are smoking. More than 65k people voted in the 2006 Dem primary in Pima. An uncontested primary. Less than 100 give a crap about the RTA ballots. (That was an arbitrary number intended to provide scope, so don’t quibble over it).
March 4th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Hey Ted:
Personally, who cares what happens in the Guv election, they won’t decide the next election anyway, signed, the Secretary of State Election.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Eli, a factual correction. Goddard was our candidate in 1990 against Fife Symington, was widely considered the odds-on favorite, and then faded down the stretch and ultimately lost in a run-off. In the Republican year of 1994, Goddard lost to Eddie Basha in the D primary. Basha appeared to be in a good position to compete strongly with Symington but got completely whipsawed on the gay marriage issue and went down in flames.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:50 am
I just want to clarify that I am not the Carol that posts to various blogs. I am Carol C. I am not sure it is a good sign–the ED search– and what I heard was that the RTA ballots would be hand counted from Jim March and John Brakey’s email.
“The AG has the ballots, the AG has contracted with the elections department up in heathenville (i.e. Phoenix) to prepare and do a hand count, and all of it is expected to take place in April.”
Heathenville is probably not the worst name Phoenix has ever been called but perhaps we could arise from the ashes.
March 5th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Recount supposed to be on April 6. Details to follow I’m sure. (“Carol” is a common feminine given name.)
March 5th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
um, 1990? not to rain on anyone’s parade, but 3\4ths of the voters did not live here in 1990. But they were here in 2002 and 2006 when they elected him twice by pretty large margins. So much for the can’t win elections argument …