Monday, December 29, 2008

Moore following the McCrory model?

One thing I've found interesting about Richard Moore's not completely ruling out a 2010 Senate run while also making it sound very unlikely is that in interviews with both WRAL and the News&Observer he's made reference to how things might look 'a year from now.'

It's hard to imagine just deciding to run for the Senate in 2010 in November or December 2009. Usually a run would require a good deal more preparation than that, and indeed Moore's primary campaign against Bev Perdue was already getting pretty tense in early 2007, if not earlier.

But Pat McCrory's January entry showed that you can put together a viable statewide campaign in a short period of time. McCrory decided to run when it was clear that the Republican field wasn't inspiring anyone, and he was able to win the primary even in just four months because his opponents were so weak.

It seems highly unlikely, especially after the Democratic successes this year, that the Senate field wouldn't look a lot more formidable than the trio of clowns that were the Republican choices for Governor this time a year ago. But Moore's statements seem to leave the door open that if for some reason high profile Democrats passed on the Senate race and left a mediocre pool of potential contenders in their wake, he might come in at the last second like McCrory did and give his party a stronger contender.

I doubt it will play out that way, but there seems to be some element of that in how Moore is playing this.

2 comments:

  1. Off-topic Mike but could you repeat the DailyKos poll for Palin/Murkowski/Knowles and that deal? He has Palin up 24 on Murkowski (55-31); that may be right but I would love to get confirmation from you if that weren't too expensive.

    How about polling Kathleen Sebelius? I'm a conservative who likes your polling, but I would love to see one of Obama's friends go down. She has a tough race with Tiart or Moore.

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  2. And if you have time to Tom, could you poll Deval Patrick against Jane Swift in Massachusetts? Every Republican is focused on Reid (might as well poll that one as well!), but as a conservative, I'd rather keep Reid in the Senate given his unpopularity and knock off Obama's friends (e.g. Patrick and Sebelius). That would send a stronger message considering that Obama is likely going to use Reid as a shield and distance himself from Reid when unpopular legislation is passed.

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