We read Celia Cohen because she is the canary in a gold mine. Like a Seven of Nine liberated from the Borg, but still has a direct link to the hive mind. Actually, considering she is sponsored by Pete DuPont and all his Chateau Republican friends, she is really none of those things, rather she is a bought and paid for spokesman for the Castle blue bloods that formerly ran the Delaware Republican Party.
Given that background, her latest piece is interesting, to say the least. Not really for the content, because it really is really lacking in that instance, but for the motivation. First, some background. It has been widely rumored that Former Republican Speaker Terry Spence will seek the GOP nomination for Governor next year, finally. I say finally, because Terry Spence has considered, and let everyone know that he was considered, running for Governor before. Celia puts it this way:
More to the point, in almost every year before a gubernatorial election, there is speculation that Spence will run for governor, most of it stoked by Spence himself. It is like the return of the political locusts. By the time the campaign season really gets going, Spence’s candidacy has died off every time. He is an odd-numbered-year candidate for governor, only to drop down and file as usual for state representative. The farthest along he ever got was a Republican straw poll in January 2000.
He was like the Newt Gingrich of Delaware, always flirting with running for President, but never does it. Except, Newt Gingrich finally did run for President. He is doing a horrible job of it, but that is besides the point. So perhaps Spence will finally bite the bullet and run. He’s got a website up and running, and he has a Facebook page, although the only activity on it in the last several months is from a spammer. Spence would probably do a horrible job of running for Governor, but whereas national Republicans have more (horrible) choices besides Gingrich, Delaware Republicans have….. hold on a minute I am thinking…. hmmmmm… is Lee still alive?……. Charlie Copeland.
Back to Celia, who after informing us of Spence’s flirtations with running in the past, begins to relate a story about Spence meeting with Republican political operative Mike Harkins and Republican National Committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw at the White Clay Country Club. Observers who saw them all there together were intrigued and dished to Celia, who put on her reporter’s cape and got to the bottom of it.
Spence was there to meet with a businessman, an innocent bystander who has nothing to do with state politics, and invited Harkins along. Rakestraw ran into them in the course of her work for the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, where she is the development director. It was just one of those typical coincidences in a small state where everyone knows everyone else, or at least they think they do.
“I was there for a business luncheon involving the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition and happened to see two friends sitting there. I just went to say hello. I never miss an opportunity to find out what’s happening with Mike Harkins and Terry Spence,” Rakestraw said.
“It’s Delaware. I never expected my table-hopping to be reported back to the other party and to Delaware Grapevine. But it’s a good place to eat.”
That’s it. Celia gets a quote from Rakestraw dismissing her presence at the meeting, and Celia runs with it to dismiss the entire idea of Spence running for Governor.
So Spence is not even an odd-numbered-year candidate for governor. He is an odd-man out.
It does not appear from her piece that she contacted Spence himself or Harkin. She does not quote either of them, and does not tell us that both refused to comment for her story. Not that it really matters, as a Republican politician having a lunch meeting at a country club with a political operative and a businessman is not breaking news. It is standard operating procedure. And even if the meeting wasn’t political at all (although you have to ask why Harkin is “tagging along” for a business meeting between Spence and an still unnamed and unknown businessman), does that mean Spence is not running?
It seems to me that the word came from upon high to quell or quiet Spence for Governor rumors and stories. It is the only reason Celia would have written her piece the way she did. And now I am wondering why? Why does Spence need to be quashed? I would understand if one of Castle’s cronies plans to run for Governor, but so far we have crickets. Indeed, Spence seems like the type that could bring some healing to the Delaware Republican Party. He is establishment enough for the establishment and conservative enough for the teabaggers.