John Carney was not dissed today.
It was always my opinion that forcing John to be a placeholder would be the height of disrespect, even if he was willing to do it as reported. John Carney is no placeholder. He is a man who has served Delaware for decades, who is a capable and qualified public servant and who was enormously gracious in defeat to Jack Markell. He deserved better than being a placeholder so that a legacy could take his place.
So if the appointment to replace Biden was to be a placeholder, than I am glad it is not Carney. Now, I hope John will form an exploratory committee for Congress post haste.
But since the appointment is a placeholder for Beau, the choice of Ted Kaufman couldn’t have been a more transparent example of blatant cronyism, unless Ruth Ann Minner had appointed her dog to the post. I am sure Mr. Kaufman is a nice man. I am sure he is intelligent and capable. But his long tenure in Joe Biden’s employ essentially makes him a Biden proxy. Indeed, there will always be a question as to whether a Senator Kaufman is voting for himself, or voting the way Papa Joe wants him to. It is one thing to want the Governor to appoint a placeholder so that your son can have a legitimate chance at running for and winning the seat in two years. It is quite another for you to insist on the appointment of an underling to the job as that placeholder.
Ted Kaufman will never be his own man in the Senate. People will not ask for his opinion or counsel on important Senate votes. Instead, they will go to the cloak room, where I am told Vice President Biden will spend a lot of time in the coming years encouraging the passage of President Obama’s agenda, and they will ask Joe for Ted Kaufman’s opinion.
Joe Biden failed Delaware today. I am used to such failure from Ruth Ann, but not from Joe.
I am really not happy with this pick. I guess you could argue that having one of Biden’s top deputies is a way to honor his election as Delaware Senator as well. I have a feeling that Biden will probably be too busy to dictate to Mr. Kaufman.
Well, hopefully we’ll have a real primary and not just hand over the seat to Beau Biden. I have a feeling that it will be difficult to go against a sitting Vice President’s wishes though. I really have nothing against Beau. I don’t know much about him but I want him to have to run a real race and be accountable to the people.
Carney will not primary Beau, especially if he was really willing to step aside for him in 2 years.
I actually do like Beau as a candidate. I have a feeling he will face Castle, so it can’t get more real than that.
Perhaps Carney can run for the House seat in 2010. I’d actually rather see that flipped, Biden for House and Carney for Senate.
me too
Oh please! Name one thing that Carney has done for the citizens of Delaware that warrant him running for higher office. The AG’s office run by Beau Biden has many complaints that are not being investigated by that office.
Neither one of them should be promoted to serve higher office. What we do know is they are both party hacks and simply waiting for their “turn”. Can’t we get past this cronyism, hack crap?
Castle has been nothing but a failure. His votes for corporate america, the credit card companies, and the financial services industry which he has consistently bailed out…his votes with Bush over the last 8 years…cmon…retire the man and lets find some fresh blood.
Let me guess, Liz thinks Karen Hartley Nagle should have been appointed.
If Beau doesn’t ‘step up his game’ as Attorneys General, he’ll be an easy mark for Castle in 2 years. Beau isn’t exactly setting the world on fire where he is now and it’s the people who actually vote who suffer the brunt of his lackluster staffers in the AG office. He’s a nice guy but being ‘a nice guy’ isn’t exactly on the list of qualifications for U.S. Senator.
I don’t think handing the seat over to a placeholder is in the best interest of the state. It could’ve been a good opportunity to get a good solid candidate in place to run in two years.
As far as Castle running for the Senate in two years, I’m not even sure I see that happening. The man is not getting younger with each passing year. Copeland is a name that comes to mind. Maybe by then he won’t have Bush to blame (for his loss to Matt Denn). If Carney doesn’t have an interest in running for the Senate seat, you can bet your last nickle he won’t have any interest in the House seat. It’s just not that appealing for most family people (who still have young children) to run for office every two years just to commute to D.C..
The Dems better start developing a new ‘farm team’ now and start circulating names. They’re going to need built in name recognition to beat either Castle or Copeland.
PI, you’ve scared me.
ABB used to mean Anybody But Bush. Right now I’m amending it–Anybody But Beau.
he’ll be an easy mark for Castle in 2 years.
Castle is not running for it. Say it. Live it.
I have $100 bucks for anybody who wants the action. It is not happening.
Speaking of which, have you written that check to Sussex County Habitat for Humanity yet?
I mean, you know, for the last bet you made?
1. Why is anybody surprised that Joe made this pick?
2. Why is this an outrage and not an opportunity? This means that there needs to be a real election now, where real candidates have to ask you for votes. Go back and read all of the D names you are bandying about here. There is a serious bench (Beau or no Beau) and a real possibility of an up upcoming trifecta with all of those names (and some not mentioned) — two new Senators and one new Congressman.
3. Carney had no entitlement to this job. Joe is not entitled to try to keep a seat warm, but if Markell can jump “his place” in line, we already know that the machine can be co-opted. Perhaps none of the candidates mentioned can do what Jack did, though. But one way or another there is an election where we get to say coming up.
4. Whether you had a placeholder who leaves in two years or a placeholder who runs in two years, there is no doubt that neither was going to get much done. The latter because he would be running for his Senate seat for the next two years.
5. And while Biden holds a ton of cards here, you do not get around the fact that Beau does not get back until September. The AGs office is not burning down the house and while crime seems to be going up in the state, to have the AGs office pretty much running on autopilot doesn’t strike me as the best place to campaign from.
You are being a little optimistic Cassandra. I think Dave got one thing right. The National Dems LOVE Beau.
Beau will get tons and tons of dough. His announcement will be enough to scare off other interested legitimate parties.
The check to Sussex County Habitat for Humanity will be cut.
In the meantime, I hope 500 people take me up on my Castle bet. There is no way in hell that he is running.
A sidebar. Daniello put out a statement publicizing the fact that he was not consulted or even made aware of this move.
2010 may be the Daniello/party wing vs. the Biden wing in a bruising primary for this seat.
Not likely, but possible.
I don’t think Castle will run for Senator. He’s already 69 years old now. In 2010 he’ll by 71 and serving one term would make him 77 at the end. Do you think he would run again at that age? I think there will be some pressure on Castle just because of the extremely thin ranks of Delaware Republicans but I think he’ll ultimately decide against running.
I don’t understand why John Carney couldn’t be THE strong Dem candidate for House that we have been waiting for for a decade.
Maybe optimistic. But I also live in Wilmington which is experiencing a crime wave where folks are getting trained to talk about attorneys at the AGs office and judges as being an issue. Don’t count on the NJ for this — go to a few community meetings where the WPD is handing out monthly crime stats. Beau will get a ton of money, but if the AGs office continues on its current path, it is going to be awfully clear that they will be asking for votes for a dynasty.
Shows the arrogance of the Democrat Party. They will lose both the AG and the Senate seat in two years.
David,
Name some DE Republican up and comers. Copeland? Clatworthy? I don’t think so.
The Dems may be arrogant, but David Anderson is delusional if he believes his tripe in comment 18.
LOL MM. We need better trolls.
Nate Silver weighs in and he is surprised someone of greater stature wasn’t picked.
Unfortunately, Nate, Delaware is a small place and we don’t need Wikipedia to know each other. And while it does look like Joe is trying to hold open a place, voters will get to choose in 2 years, unlike what seems to be on course for Illinois.
As for the GOP in 2010. Copeland took a really big hit in losing to Denn, Copeland dd not break 40% and in the end he gave up a safe seat and the GOP lost that one also.
Now for Clatworthy. No way is he senate material. His loss was worse than Copeland’s loss in that the 4th SD was a shoo in except for a total moron.
No, there will be 2-3 people emerge very very soon from the GOP.
“John Carney was not dissed today.”
I do believe Carney was ‘dissed’. The Return Day celebration made it clear that Carney had an interest in Joe’s seat with the ‘JC to DC’ being sported by political insiders.
Whether Carney should’ve been gotten the appointment is anyone’s guess but this is how Carney was dissed. For nearly a year Carney was in a head to head primary with Jack Markell. Carney had everything going for him except for the albatros, Ruth Ann, hanging around his neck. Time and again the man had the opportunity to denounce his governor’s lack of leadership skills and poor judgement and he didn’t do it. He stayed true to the governor at the cost of votes. And he lost. Looking at it from that point of view, maybe he wasn’t the right person to get the nod from Joe Biden. Afterall, if Carney didn’t have the b#@**s to pull away from a lame duck old lady, who are we to think he’s strong enough to enter the US Senate and fight for little old Delaware.