241. What's Next?

Note: The following post is cross-posted at BluegrassReport.org, where Mark Nicholas has asked me to make a few guest author entries in his absence. Here is a link to the post itself.

http://www.bluegrassreport.org/bluegrass_politics/2007/12/whats-next.html

And here below is the post in its entirely:

*****

As one made their way anywhere in Frankfort yesterday, and there were plenty of both public and private events to make one's way to, the talk of the town among Democrats for yesterday's Inauguration centered on two words. Wow and Who.

The Wows were in response to the weather. Anyone familiar with Frankfort on any given day knows that as a town laying low in a valley with hills on all sides, the city is subject to a continual breeze. In December, that breeze usually is a very cold and brisk one, and the possibility of snowflakes on the Inauguration is usually a pretty easy bet. Not since John Young Brown's Jr.'s inaugural in 1979 has there been a warm day to greet the new governor to his (or her) new home in Franklin County. The temperature that year was 69 degrees. Yesterday, the thermometer rose to 72 during the afternoon procedings. In his benediction at the Inauguration, the Reverend Kevin Cosby prayed, in asking for Divine guidance over the new administration, that we do not always seek for clear skies knowing that the road may sometimes be cloud-filled. And while there were times yesterday that the Sun took refuge behind the clouds, for most of the day and into the evening, the weather came as a great and wonderful blessing. Wow!

The Whos - or specifically Who? was on the tongue of most everyone. Who? Who will be our nominee against Senator McConnell. During the course of Monday night and through the day and evening yesterday, I and others were in constant discussions about who is Michael Cassaro, about Greg Fischer's money, about Colonel Horne's qualifications and desire, and about Crit's decision not to be a candidate. And while Attorney General Stumbo was there making the rounds, nothing definitive was coming from his camp. He remains the only person interested in the job who has been successful on a statewide ballot, winning both a Primary and a General, something more than a few folks think is essential for a strong nominee.

But wait. There is an error in that last line with regard to winning a statewide Primary. There is also David Williams, the Democratic Party's nominee for Commissioner of Agriculture earlier this year, and the Democratic Party's nominee in 2002 for Kentucky's Second Congressional District. In a multi-candidate primary, David Williams - our David Williams, not their's - might be our nominee again. And that poses a problem. Voters have proven they will vote for this man who amongst the four is the least qualified to serve as United States Senator. Their David Williams could possibly even be a better choice. But, our David Williams is the one person currently in the race with the name recognition to win a Primary and the proven ability to do so. Think about that.

Some of the other bloggers in Kentucky have called for the might-be and wanna-be candidates to go ahead and, as the Bard wrote four hundred years, "take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them." More than one person commented that newly inaugurated Lieutenant Governor Dan Mongiardo should have, after yesterday's events, made his way over to Secretary of State Grayson's office and filed his papers for the job. Others suggested that with Crit no longer in the running, maybe it was time for a new and younger woman to seek statewide office, much the way Martha Layne Collins first did in 1975, when at the age of 38, she ran for the Clerk of the Court of Appeals, at the time a statewide office, and won with the help of Wendell Ford and the then-very well organized Kentucky Democratic Party.

As 2008 is a Reorganization year for the Kentucky Democratic Party, seeds planted at the Precinct, Legislative District, County, Congressional, and ultimately the State conventions, may well bloom into just such an opportunity for another young woman 32 years after Governor Collins blazed such a path. It is a thought. Perhaps one "devoutly to be wished."