Don’t take his name off the door yet….
From Pilotonline.com:
Virginia Sen Mark Warner, who in recent days has refused to rule out a 2013 gubernatorial bid, Saturday night convened a reunion in Richmond of several hundred of his former advisers and supporters.
One topic, according to sources present at the trendy “Plant Zero Café,” dominated the social conversations from alumni of Warner’s business career, campaigns, previous gubernatorial administration and Senate tenure.
“Everyone in that room was hoping he’d run for Governor again,” said a senior Virginia Democrat. “Though it was hard to tell how much of that was pro-Warner vs. anti-McAuliffe sentiment.”
Wait. Stop. Flag on the play. Mark Warner is a U.S. Senator. He was elected in 2008. He will be in there until the beginning of 2015, a full year after the new governor takes office. How will that work? My guess is, if he is elected governor, he would resign. Why would he want to be governor when he is a senator?
It is no secret that Warner wanted the much coveted spot on the financial Super Committee of 12. He was denied a spot on that committee by Harry Reid. It only makes sense that someone with a national reputation for ironing out financial squabbles should be left off the dream team. Not. Warner had left his gubinatorial spot in Virginia with meteroic high ratings, mainly because of his ability to strike compromise between warring financial factions. Why Reid chose to diss Warner is a mystery.
The three main reasons getting out of dodge for Warner:
1. Boredom with the Senate and its do-nothingness.
2. Mild-mannered dislike of Terry McAuliffe who will run for Governor.
3. positioning himself for a move across the Potomac in 2020 in #1 or #2 postion. Governors migrate to the White House easier than Senators.
What will become of Warner’s pipe dream? Who knows. No one knows how seriously he might want the job either. Most people feel if he wants the position, he can walk on it and it will be his. He was one of Virginia’s most popular governors. While he doesn’t get as much press coverage as a senator,
It’s alot easier to run for President as a governor than as a Senator.
I still wonder why he pulled in his horns back in 2008.
Because he was smart enough to realize that the white rich man stood no chance in the Hillary/Obama knife fight and decided to save his time and money.
There is all sorts of speculation on this one…none of it very flattering, at the time, to Hillary or Obama.
Actually, I don’t think that its UNflattering to them. It is what it is.
A contest between the “firsts” of anything would have sucked all the media away from Warner. There was no way that Warner would have had a good race for President.