Thursday, April 5, 2007

Welcome! Now let's Get Down to Business!

Tired of Jim Inhofe? Well, you've come to the right place.Jim Inhofe has always been one of the most embarrassing legislators in Washington. Lately, however, Inhofe's fanatical denial of global warming has propelled him into a league of his own. I can't think of a more embarrassing figure to be representing this fine state.

Fortunately, Oklahoma Democrats have a political gold mine in Brad Henry. The guy was re-elected this past November with over 66% of the vote. His opponent, Ernest Istook, gave up his coveted seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to run against Henry, a Democratic governor in one of the most conservative states in the country. Despite his high profile and political experience, Istook only managed to get 33.5% of the vote.Coming off of his landslide re-election, Henry is incredibly popular. Not only is his margin of victory astounding, he only lost three counties of Oklahoma's 77 counties. It’s been a while since a high profile Democrat has been this popular here in Oklahoma.

The purveyors of conventional wisdom in D.C. don't have Oklahoma on their map of competitive 08 Senate races right now. After all, Brad Henry probably doesn't want to do anything but govern amidst his re-election in November. It's nice to dream about, but reality based people know that Henry won't even consider running.

But why the hell shouldn't he run?

Politically, the consequences of loosing are not that damning. Even if Henry looses, he still has two more good years left in the governor’s office.If Henry's worried about a Senate race distracting his ability to govern, Jari Askins, his Lt. governor, just happens to be one of his strongest allies and should keep things in order.And if Henry wins, he'll have a job that most political figures can only dream of having.

Only for Henry, becoming a U.S. Senator is very much a possibility.Henry has already said he does not intend to run against Inhofe. But politicians do change their minds.

The burden falls on us to convince Henry that he will be strongly supported in a Senate race in 2008.For now, let's start from square one. Let's do the simple things like donating to OK-Sen Democratic Nominee Fund 2008 to show Governor Henry that we are serious about taking down Inhofe. Or contacting Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman, Chuck Schumer, to encourage him to recruit Governor Henry.The clock is ticking and Jim Inhofe's fate is in our hands. Let's get this thing started and boot Inhofe out of Washington once and for all!