Say Reverend Christopher Bullock runs against Mike Castle as is being suggested by some commenter’s – how does this race shake out.
Bullock has made his living speaking and by all reports he is a great speaker. The issue that this campaign will turn on is “can we trust Mike Castle” so he clearly has that big advantage going in. He’ll have to prove that he can raise money (both here in Delaware and with the DCCC, ActBlue and other online activist sites). And here is a big one in my mind, Bullock will have to get REAL support from Biden and Carper. Not the chump change and occasion kind word they gave to Spivack. If Bullock ends up running against Carper and Castle – as Spivack was forced to do – then his chances go way down.
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Mike Castle is clearly a doddering and frail old man. His has lost more than a step and political instincts have dried up over the past few years as he has struggled to maintain the appearance of being a moderate while supporting George Bush.
His strategy will be to try and lay low and run out the clock. If he allows voters to get a good look at him and slips up and lets Bullock go head to head with him in a debate it would mean trouble. A big messy primary on the Democratic side helps Castle by allowing him to avoid dealing with Bullock head to head.
Nevertheless, the power of incumbency is strong and Castle (whith all the pork he rakes in) looks great to Democrats who don’t pay much attention to his voting record but rely on the News Journal for information.
Bottom Line: By sticking with Bush on Iraq, Castle has not done himself any favors since beating Spivack with 57%. Will people notice?