Why Doesn't Cooper Get More Consideration for 2008 Senate Race?

a bunch of racist conservatives are thrilled that these "Upstanding Young Men" got off.

He just did his job, and got rid of a case that was handled worse than the OJ case.

Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Liddy 44 Brad 33

I don't have any real evidence that he'd reconsider. Mainly just curiosity that I don't hear his name bandied about more often here.

Although this is interesting...

And agreed about Campbell-swooning. Just thought it's interesting. Thanks for the comments!

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Nate Denny
http://ethlblog.wordpress.com/

Just thought I'd let you know.

A part of me believes this was Roy Cooper's original plan, and has been discussed as "the truth" in several circles for the last couple of years. Dole's numbers were good (and are pliable, more on that later), she was a female, which has been hard to beat lately, and was in a position to make connections nationally that would enable her to raise the kind of money needed to win. On top of that, Cooper could win the AG seat in a walk and then have a safe seat from which to run against Burr. If he lost against Burr, no biggie; he's still AG, ad naseum.

The reality of the present, however, is a little different, as opined here and elsewhere. Dole, depending on who's poll numbers you believe, can be seen as vulnerable, and she is now in the minority after tanking in her role in Republican rainmaker. Cooper has been in Newsweek, on TV, at the dinner table with Katie Couric...everywhere a potential Senatorial candidate should be. This all leads me to believe that Cooper at least should be running the political calculus on the race. I'm not sure the end result of his equation comes out any differently, mainly for two reasons:

1. If he loses, he's now out of a job. Running against Burr, as mentioned, wouldn't cost him that. He'd be right back as AG (assuming he wins in 2008).

2. Dole is not as weak as people think she is. Maybe I've drank the kool-aid, and yes, I know Elon's poll did not narrow their universe to likely voters, but I'm not convinced Dole is down and out, especially when I start looking at the numbers outside of the Super 8 counties (Buncombe, Cumberland, Durham, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, and Wake). Anyone who runs against Dole is in for an uphill battle, both in terms of money and votes. This lady has been in politics longer than Moses walked the desert and has degrees from Duke and Harvard. I'd bet she knows how to move her numbers like a pro. She branded herself into a rock star status in 2002, and while she won't get there again, I do believe she can get to 50% + 1 faster than anyone (with the exception of Mike or Mary Easley).

Cooper will steal any and all attention the minute he says anything other than a flat out 'no' about this race. The lack of consideration given to him as a candidate makes me think that while he's been busy in front of the cameras playing Savior of Justice, he's not doing much behind them.

but six years out of the game and his name rec will have suffered. Granted, Brad Miller has to work to extend his name rec outside his district, but the race against Vernon Robinson probably publicized Miller's name more than most district races would.

I don't disagree with what you've said about Wicker, just pointing out a weakness.

Edited for really poor sentence structure.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

She's won statewide three times. And she wouldn't lose Democratic women to Dole.

She would be formidable if she decides she wants to go through that again.

"85% of Republicans are Democrats who don't know what's going on." -Robert Kennedy, Jr.

And a good one at that.

... can we PLEASE stop talking about the cursed seat?!? That's the kind of nonsense that keeps serial losers at the roulette wheel because their number is "due" to come up.

for Women on Wednesdays? We could use another post and I'd love to see this fleshed out.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

you just did.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

I can't think of anything to say that immediately comes to mind.

Roy A. Cooper, III (born 1957) is the current North Carolina Attorney General. He is a member of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

Born in Nash County, North Carolina, Cooper was raised in a rural community and worked in tobacco fields during the summer as a teenager. He received the Morehead Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and there earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.

After practicing law with his family's law firm for a number of years, Cooper was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1986 and named to the North Carolina Senate in 1991. In 1997, he was elected Democratic Majority Leader of the state Senate. He continued to practice law as the managing partner of the law firm Fields & Cooper in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Cooper was elected North Carolina Attorney General in November 2000 and took office on January 6, 2001; he was re-elected for a second term in 2004. Cooper was mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for North Carolina governor, but he has decided to run for re-election as Attorney General in 2008, instead. [1] The current governor, Mike Easley, succeeded to the post of governor after serving as state attorney general.

In January 2007, when Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong asked to be recused from dealing with the Duke lacrosse team rape case, Attorney General Cooper's office assumed responsibilty for the case. On April 11, 2007, Cooper dismissed the case against the Duke lacrosse team players.

Aside from this Wikipedia summary, Roy has also garnered attention thanks to his suing TVA for polluting the mountains.

You should edit the wikipedia article. Wikipedia is for anyone to edit, and it is about as easy as submitting a comment here on BlueNC. What's more, Wikipedia articles rank very high in google, so people that are looking for info will find whatever has been contributed to Wikipedia. Feel free to message or email me if you have questions, but I don't think you will.

Good numbers, but I don't get what you're arguing here?

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Nate Denny
http://ethlblog.wordpress.com/

I think you need to compare some other apples. State race totals are important, but so are federal races, as that's what this will fall into:

Kerry - 1,525,849
Bowles - 1,632,527

The point: These numbers are significantly lower than state races, so low they're losers (in an electoral sense)!

This is where the calculus gets tricky, both for Cooper and for Miller (moreso for Miller). Cooper crosses the divide; he's run in two statewide races, meaning he can somewhat avoid the connection to the national Democrats which has traditionally been a sinker for races in our state (at least back to McGovern). As I said above, if he waits and runs against Burr from a 3rd term as AG, he still has a job if he loses, which when accompanied by Sen. Dole's prowess, leads me to believe he won't do it.

Onto Miller. Miller will have the political fight of his life, and probably a challenge twice as big as what Cooper would face. I hypothesize Miller's name ID, and more importantly his accomplishments, are not known in the Mountains or Coastal Plain, the two places where Democrats running for national office get skewered. He's behind in the money race from the starting gate by more than what he raised in his fight against Vernon Robinson ($1.7 million) and has to realize there is likely no way he can outraise Dole. According to the N&O's report on what our elected officials are worth, he does not have the family fortune, of say, Erskine Bowles, and thus can't pitch in $6 million in the closing months when things get hairy. So when Dole is painting him as an uber-liberal in the East, where there was a 500,000 vote swing to Bush over the voter registration numbers (390,000+ Dems in the East, Bush won by 105,000+), Miller has to hope he has either a)saved his pennies, or b)hired the best fundraising team known to mankind.

It's not all bad, I promise! There are two great points that work in favor of whoever is brave enough to throw their hat in the ring:

1. The mood - We are way on top when it comes to general poll numbers. For a good source, I reccomend www.thepoliticaljunkies.net. TPJ has tracked Bush's and the Repubs' poll numbers for a while, and as long as nothing changes in Iraq, their hands have blood all over them, and Americans have had more blood than they can stand. Dole is a Ruburr stamp, and her hands have blood on them too.

2. Where in the world in Sen. Dole? Not NC. This is a point that is easy to make and should be repeated by whoever runs over and over and over.

There are a lot of people saying that Roy can raise money nationally because of the Duke case. But, I think that is largely a guess. I think the most likely scenario is that both Brad and Roy could raise a certain amount of national money because they are running against Dole. Then Roy could raise a certain amount because people will have seen his name, while Brad could raise a certain amount because of the netroots. Which one could be bigger is purely guesswork.

But, the national media attention and volunteer support outweighs the potential benefits of the Duke case in my opinion. But, even that is just a guess.

Im with you in thinking that Roy would be great, but that I would rather Brad.

Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Liddy 44 Brad 33