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Saturday, October 14, 2006
The search for the new anti-Hillary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner’s announcement this week that he wouldn’t run for the Democratic presidential nomination was the first bombshell of the ’08 campaign, and nowhere more so than Atlanta.
“Had he stayed in the race he would have owned Atlanta, and Georgia,� said businessman and Democratic fundraiser Kirk Dornbush.
Dornbush is prejudiced – he’d already signed on to work on the finance side of the Warner campaign. But it’s true Warner had a big leg up on any other Democratic presidential hopeful in Georgia.
The square-jawed entrepreneur-governor raised a lot of money in Atlanta from Democrats and even a few Republicans, gave money to Democratic legislative candidates, and had important commitments across racial lines.
As the other Southerner in the race, Sen. John Edwards might seem likeliest to benefit from Warner’s departure, and to some degree he probably will. But a number of those who were signing on early with Warner, like Dornbush, were with Edwards four years ago and had already turned the page. Not that you can’t turn the page back.
Interestingly, the first name mentioned in a couple of conversations we had this week was that of Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. By coincidence, we understand Bayh will be in Atlanta Monday paying some calls on local Democrats.
Bayh’s a University of Virginia law school grad, which isn’t a bad avenue for picking up former Warner supporters, noted Keith Mason. As a two-time governor of a conservative Midwestern state as well as a senator, there’s some thinking he could appeal to Southern voters.
For that matter, don’t rule out New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, both of whom have worked this territory.
The name of Hillary Clinton didn’t come up when we were talking to Democrats about Warner’s departure, incidentally. It didn’t have to. Warner had been cast as the anti-Hillary before his surprise exit, and the competition to see who’ll be the new one won’t take long.
