| By Carnacki
Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin is considering a possible run for governor.
"It's something I have an interest in," Tomblin said Tuesday in his state capitol office. "I take a great deal of pride in the changes we've made in this state and if the opportunity arises and the right people get behind me I would really consider running for governor."
The Logan County Democrat also has the title of the state's Lieutenant Governor and if Gov. Manchin would leave his office before his term is over, Tomblin would become governor. "When you sit in this seat here it's one that you never know from day to day that you may get the call," he said.
MetroNews mentions two other possible candidates, one unannounced but and one already announced.
House Speaker Rick Thompson is holding fund raisers across the state, but hasn't announced yet. He was in Martinsburg on Friday for what I was told was a good fundraiser. So far he's held fundraisers with two of Berkeley County's most prominent Democratic supporters, Butch Pennington and John Fink. I was invited to both events, but wasn't able to make them due to scheduling conflicts.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler is the only announced candidate and is a favorite of at least two West Virginia Blue regulars and has a lot of good qualities. If he makes it out to the Eastern Panhandle, someone drop me a line because I'd like to meet him. Same with any other of our gubernatorial candidates.
Other potential gubernatorial candidates whose names I've heard bandied about for governor in 2012 are State Auditor Glen B. Gainer III and State Treasurer John Perdue, both of whom would have to be considered strong contenders.
One person to watch is the popular Secretary of State Natalie Tennant. She's played it coy so far, but there is a long way to go until 2012.
While neither Alan Mollohan or Nick Rahall are going to want to give up their safe House of Representative seats where they have considerable seniority and clout, but the GOP's best shot at winning the governor's race would come from the House of Representatives, Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito. That's one of the big questions in West Virginia politics. The Republicans are going to want her to run so they have a viable, legitimate candidate this time. But the feckless Capito has ducked GOP recruitment efforts to run for U.S. Senate. Capito wants to be governor or senator, but fears losing her safe House seat.
All of them are invited to post here, the meeting ground for many in the netroots. |
