POLIBLOGGER - Three Senators Ponder Governorships.
By Steven Taylor @ 9:43 am
Three Senators Consider Bids for Governor
n a sign of growing Democratic powerlessness and despair in Washington after Tuesday’s elections, Senator Christopher J. Dodd is considering running for governor of Connecticut in 2006, fellow lawmakers and an adviser to the senator said yesterday.
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Should Mr. Dodd choose to make a run for governor, he would be among three Democratic senators from the New York region giving thought to such a leap, particularly in the wake of Tuesday’s elections, when Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate with a net gain of four seats.
The other two, Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, are said to be dispirited over their continued minority status - as well as the reality that their party does not appear to have a shot at winning the majority any time soon.
Mr. Dodd, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Corzine are highly ambitious men. Their potential departure from the Hill underscores how impotent Democrats now feel in Washington.
“People are just giving up,” said one Democratic strategist who has been a key adviser to Senate and House candidates from the New York region. “They’re realizing that they may be able to accomplish a lot more from a governor’s mansion than from Capitol Hill.”
Further, if any of these men (or anyone else for that matter) wants to seriously enhance a run at the White House, it is clear that it is easier to run from the Governor’s Mansion than from the Senate.
Further, if one runs for governor from the Senate and wins, one can appoint one’s own replacement (at least until a special election is held).
It is also is true that being in the minority stinks (although less so in the Senate than in the House)–especially a seemingly protracted minority status. In some ways the results of the 1994 election are finally sinking in: it wasn’t a blip on the radar screen, but rather a clear partisan re-alignment. Indeed, the re-alignment may not be fuilly over, as there is a real possibility that in te coming years liberal-to-moderate Republicans (both voters and office olders) may find themselves switching to the Demcratic Party. For as the South is clearly Republican, the Northeast is increasinlygly clearly Democratic.
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