Posted by Walt already hit the details on Democratic Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb taking a pass on the 2010 governor’s race.
Did you get the sense that she was struggling between head and heart on the decision? If you ever want to run for governor in Alabama, 2010 is a good year for it with no incumbent or sitting Lt. Governor in the race. Judging from what we were hearing, including from the Chief Justice herself, she really gave serious thought to running. But the arguments against it were obvious: she’d have to resign as Chief Justice as soon as she became an announced candidate, the Republican governor would replace the only Democrat sitting on any appellate court with a Republican, in return she would get only a shot at the primary (which would absolutely be no gimme), and even if she won the primary there is no guarantee that she would win the general election.
On top of that, factor in the damage that a potentially brutal primary could do to the Democrats in 2010 and the potential damage to her own political future. While Democrats generally are very supportive of Sue Bell Cobb, I don’t recall a single one telling me that they wished she would run for governor in 2010.
From the very first post on this possibility, I always thought it made little sense for her to run for governor, and I didn’t figure she got to be Chief Justice by doing things that made little sense. While the heart sometimes wins out over the head, the Democrats I talked to believe that Cobb made the sensible decision for herself and for her party.
Will the ABAD* wing of Democrats turn to someone else for the governor’s race? Or are they running out of steam?
*Anybody But Artur Davis
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This is such good news to me. The field is already crowded with good names and her seat would got to a Republican.
This was a no-brainer.
You can now project the Republican nominee for governor has just won the November 2010 election in Alabama.
I think Sparks would be the most politically palatable choice, but Davis will be a good candidate. I wouldn’t count him out just yet Prince.
I think Davis getting Beasley’s endorsement quickly changed Cobb’s thinking about the race. A month ago, she was in.
Yep. Davis played all of his cards right, and laid them on the table one by one. When it got to the River, she was sunk.
i knew she would not run – but she loved her name being floated….they all do. ego.
To #6, Davis did make some smart moves here, lining up endorsements from prominent women, signing on Mowery and Ceci, lining up Beasley and getting a lot of trial lawyers to push Cobb away from running. Davis has not gotten a lot of kudos for knowing how to play the insider game, but its obvious that his team is learning.
But let’s not give Davis too much tactical credit here. Two major Cobb supporters have told more than a few that AEA polled this race and Cobb polled it herself, and the results were bad for her. Davis killed her in a primary and the two of them ran about the same in the general. She needed and expected polling results showing Davis’ weakness and when she did not get that money dried up.
To #’s 6 and 8… I’m not sure getting Beasley and the trial lawyers to back him reflected a coup on Artur’s part as much as their aversion to letting Cobb leave the Chief Justice’s office over three years ahead of schedule. They pretty much fell into Artur’s lap — he didn’t have to do much pushing.
Y’all are forgetting that Davis got 3 of Cobb’s best options for consultants, anzalone/liszt and mowery and cece AND her biggest backer, jere beaslee, while she was still waivering.
Whether it was because they are for him, or against her, that’s your tipping point.
Can we have a moratorium on David Mowry and his buddies posting his name on Doc’s? Maybe just a week or so. Please David? After a week you can go back to posting, and pretending like people care who you are. Deal?
Hey, BS, what you should know is that folks who are plugged into the Montgomery scene are quite familiar with Mowery. You will notice that many of those who mention him are regular posters on here, not the multitude of anons or posers that get on when the trolls come out. It may be frustrating for someone else that is tryting to compete in the market, but self-pity gets you nowhere.