Kilmer needs to step up in the 26th
Now that the retirement of Sen. Bob Oke is apparent (and we can all be happy of that), based on the House delivering on his pet anti-tobacco bill, Democrats need to get their collective rears in gear about finding a challenger for presumed GOP nominee Lois McMahan. McMahan, a social conservative like Oke, but a slight improvement in that she isn't a frequent sell-out on fiscal conservatism, still is not needed in the overly conservative state Senate. The only Democrat to have filed for the seat, Lary Coppola, has since dropped out, leaving the Democratic line empty.
Freshman Rep. Derek Kilmer, a true moderate who is a better friend to the taxpayer than most in his caucus, should be the Democrats' candidate here. Sure, Rep. Pat Lantz has more seniority, but she nearly lost to a nobody in 2004 and is yesterday's news, besides being more easily classified a liberal than Kilmer. Kilmer is young, vibrant, and, perhaps most importantly, he beat McMahan last year when she was the incumbent state representative. Get your feet wet, Derek.
posted by TMW @ 4:05 PM
1 Comments:
I have some reservations about it as well, given the open seat he could probably hold his current seat easily, but I feel he's the Democrats' strongest potential challenger for McMahan and they really need to keep that seat from her. Oke finally retiring at least will be a blessing in itself.
I'm not quite sure how turnout is going to affect legislative races this year. You've got some discontent with the Democratic establishment, but it's more than likely off-set by President Bush's lacking popularity. Because of this, and looking at this race from a non-biased standpoint, Kilmer is the centrist and McMahan is the polar candidate. I call this district the state's "quintessential swing district" because races there are always close, and I tend to think voters in such a close swing district will be more apt to pick a centrist over a semi-nutty conservative like McMahan. If not, there's nothing to say Kilmer couldn't run and win in 2008 -- McMahan lost three times in a row before finally beating Brock Jackley in 2002 to take back her 1994 GOP landslide seat.
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