There seems to be a lot of speculation that Richard Moore and Roy Cooper's current feud is a preview of a 2010 Senate primary but I really, really doubt it.
I can't imagine Richard Moore is going to run for the US Senate unless the Democratic field is cleared of viable candidates except for him. He already lost one statewide primary, another loss in one would definitely be the end of his political career.
And the reality is that the field isn't going to clear for him. He already has some of the 'loser' stigma attached to him, and he didn't make any friends with the state's black political leadership in the final weeks of his campaign against Bev Perdue. It's hard to win a contested Democratic primary if you do really poorly with that demographic.
I actually think Moore's best next career move would be a reprise of his 1994 Congressional run when Bob Etheridge steps aside. Etheridge has become so entrenched and done such a good job of retaining the seat that it's easy to forget that George W. Bush won the district twice and when it comes open it will be hotly contested. Moore is the kind of moderate to conservative Democrat who can keep that seat in the party moving forward.
I will be very surprised if Moore is a candidate for the Senate in 2010.
As usual, you are the rational voice in the otherwise inane drival that passes for political "reporting" in this State (Dome, Spin etc). And now AP has been used by Republican campaign manager Paul Shumaker to create some kind of political risk to Roy Cooper by Richard Moore. The article should have noted this is the same Paul Shumaker who ran three unsuccesful candidates against Cooper in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Losing most recently by 22 points despite having a candidate who spent $2million.
ReplyDeleteMoore may be egomaniacal enough to think about another statewide run for office but his chances for victory there are likely better if he pulled an Eddie Knox. And that didn't help Knox much either.