Requiem for a Draft Movement

Fellow Coop drafters, be disappointed, but do not despair. We were in this for the right reason: we thought -- and continue to think -- that Coop would have been the best candidate for Senate in 2010. We were successful to the extent that 1) we reminded people of Coop's good qualities as a public official; 2) we made more people pay attention to the 2010 race, and 3) we contributed to the buzz that Coop was a likely candidate (the N&O often said he was “widely expected to run”). We even had President Obama on our side.

So we asked Coop to run, and he surprisingly -- but politely -- said “no, thanks.” Perhaps he just decided he’d rather be governor someday than senator. He would be great in either position. Or maybe he didn’t want his children growing up in some combination of NC and DC. In any event, we should be glad that we will continue to benefit from his service here in the Tar Heel state.

There’s not much else we can do now, but we should not give up on 2010. Many so-called “party favorites” declined to run in 2008, but little-known Kay Hagan ended up winning anyway.

I'll open up this forum to ask whom, if anyone, we should support now for Senate in 2010. A few possibilities:

• Cal Cunningham (of the Lexington area) -- former state senator; attorney; served with U.S. Army Reserves in Iraq; has publicly announced interest in running
• Kenneth Lewis (of the Durham area) -- attorney; has publicly announced interest in running
• Grier Martin (of Raleigh) -- state representative; attorney; served with U.S. Army Reserves in Afghanistan
• Richard Moore (of the Oxford area) -- former state treasurer; former state representative; attorney; although he publicly claimed not to be interested in a 2010 race, that may have been when he believed that Coop was going to run
• Mike McIntyre (of Lumberton) -- U.S. congressman; attorney
• Elaine Marshall (of Lillington) -- N.C. secretary of state; former state senator; attorney; teacher
  

Either post your comment here or email me at draftcoop@gmail.com to let us know what you think.