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Monday: Cal's 180
posted at 2009-12-07 23:49 | Last modified 2009-12-08 09:11
Iraq veteran and former Army prosecutor Cal Cunningham added his hat to the Dem ring today for the 2010 Senate race. It was a reversal of his announcement Nov 10th that he would not challenge Burr. At the time, Cunningham told supporters it was “the wrong race at the wrong time.”
Today, Cunningham said things have changed.
"I received a large number of phone calls from folks all over NC asking me to reconsider. I’m very humbled by the outpouring of support…I see a path to victory that really wasn’t there a month ago.”
That “path,” Cunningham explained, is the promise of grassroots support.
"I have not run statewide before, and pulling together the grassroots, the organization, the resources, the team to win is a challenge. I see it today - I did not see it then - and I think we have an opportunity to really serve people. So I’m in. I’m in with both feet."
When Cunningham first said no to the race, WaPo’s Chris Cillizza wrote that the DSCC hadn’t actively recruited Cunningham as it did Hagan. Personally, I’ve heard otherwise. I’m also told that when the DSCC is looking for candidates, they run the names by one man: Jim Hunt. Governor for 16 years, kingmaker for life - and he's said to be one of Cunningham's biggest fans.
Cunningham himself admitted today he’s had several conversations with the DSCC since his Nov 10th withdrawal. Cunningham says those calls were just a few among the many he received, but smart money says most of his other callers didn’t have checkbooks quite so large.
Still, it’s likely to be a rough road for Cunningham. DSCC’s blessing (and $$) notwithstanding, the fact remains he's served only two years in elected office – a state Senate term during which he was redistricted out of contention for reelection. He’s never run a statewide campaign, let alone won one. His fundraising ability is untested. He’s certainly an attractive candidate – young, photogenic, smart, and demonstrably patriotic - but whether he has what it takes to make those assets pay off is still a matter of conjecture. And rank-and-file Tar Heel Dems are starting to get a little prickly about having their “local” candidates selected by a Beltway committee.
Burr won't be an easy target for any Dem next year. His incumbency may not be as big an advantage in 2010 as usual, if early polls are to be believed. But he's a savvy guy who's good on the stump, and he's been building a massive war chest, financed in large part by the health care, insurance, and pharmaceutical lobbies. He suffers from almost none of the vulnerabilities that afflicted Liddy Dole in 2008. And it’s a pretty safe bet that the voters who show up for a mid-term Senate election won’t be the same ones who turned NC blue in 2008.
Reax
Cunningham isn’t the only Dem hoping to challenge Burr, of course. Two other hopefuls, NC Sec State Elaine Marshall and Durham attorney Kenneth Lewis, announced their intentions months ago. Cunningham said today that, while he respects both Marshall and Lewis, he’s eager to test his “new leadership” credentials against them in an “ideas-based campaign.” Kenneth Lewis wasted no time deflating that idea in this afternoon's statement:
"Today Cal Cunningham enters the race for U.S. Senate with these words:
'Right now, more than ever, we need someone who won't back down from the tough fights.'
But 26 days ago, Cal, that is precisely what you did -- you backed down from the fight. And you backed down because you “could not look” [your] supporters in the eye” and “show them how we win” or “what we do when we get there”.
26 days ago you couldn’t show Democrats how to beat Richard Burr. 26 days ago you couldn’t tell voters what you would do when you got to Washington.
These are your words Cal not mine.
Today you speak of your military training as informing your decision to enter the race:
'As a paratrooper I learned that when the mission is important, you can't allow yourself to be dissuaded by tough conditions or past injuries.'
Was the mission not important 26 days ago? Were the Wall Street investment bankers, health insurance lobby, and special interests in Washington not an important enough mission for you to take on 26 days ago? Was creating jobs and improving schools in North Carolina a mission not worth fighting for 26 days ago?
Today you say you are “eager to take on these battles”. 26 days ago you backed away from these very same battles.
People tell me all the time that this is the way it is - politicians say one thing when they get out of a race and another thing when they get back in. They tell me that voters don’t care why a candidate gets in or out - that this is inside baseball and I should let it go.
But I didn’t get in this race to let things go.
And I didn’t get in this race to play political games. I got into this race to offer North Carolinians committed and rock solid leadership on what I know matters most to them --jobs, security and stability, and a real chance to attain the American Dream of opportunity and prosperity. On this I have never wavered, and never will. That's the kind of leadership North Carolina deserves in the United States Senate."
Ouch. But will it leave a mark? We’ll find out about 5 months from today.
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