Posted on 01/26/2007 1:04:18 AM PST by raccoonradio
Curt Schilling seemed surprised yesterday by the sudden groundswell of local supporters hoping to draft him into national politics and a 2008 Senate run against John Kerry.
The Red Sox pitching hero didn’t flatly rule out the idea, either, though he didn’t sound like he was about to hit the campaign trail anytime soon.
“I couldn’t rule it out because it’s not something I ever thought about in a serious capacity,” Schilling told the Herald.
“I envision that I will probably be pretty busy in 2008,” he said. “But I’m flattered as hell to even make this phone call.”
The chatter around Schilling taking on Kerry in a senate race started on talk station WRKO-AM (680) yesterday, when a caller to the Todd Feinberg show suggested Schilling would be the best candidate for the job.
“It just kind of energized from there,” Feinberg said. “He became the popular candidate.”
Indeed, Tom Shattuck, executive producer of the show, said it was his busiest day ever taking calls from listeners supporting a potential Schilling bid. Shattuck estimated he took as many as 100 calls from Schilling proponents during the three-hour program.
WRKO also put up an online petition yesterday asking people to choose between Schilling and Kerry. As of yesterday evening 800 votes had been cast and Schilling was leading by 96 percent.
Feinberg said he wants to build a real campaign around Schilling and will present him with the results of the online poll.
But Schilling may doesn’t feel he’s a good match for Capitol Hill.
“While I am a registered voter, I have too many problems with the political scene, and I don’t think I’d fit into it,” he said.
Schilling, who is planning to retire from baseball after this season, did give a glimpse of what he would do in a political office. His first task would be to “fire everybody and anybody who had anything to do with the Big Dig,” he said.
Schilling said in 2008 he’ll vote either for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), whom he called a personal friend, or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). “If they are both on the ticket it will be a tough choice,” he said.
Schilling, who spoke passionately about various political issues, said his own future is centered around winning another World Series, running his charitable foundation for ALS research and heading up his new video game business, Green Monster Games.
Schilling, who helped the Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918 (and beat the Yankees in the '01 WS w/ Ariz), appeared on Good Morning America before the '04 election and finished by saying, "Everybody go out and vote, and vote Bush." This didn't quite please the likes of Red Sox bigwigs Tom "Roseanne" Werner, Theo "Gorilla Suit" Epstein, and John Henry, who were big supporters of Kerry.
Schilling made an appearance at one
Bush rally at least, and pictures of it appear at BostonDirtDogs.com (Nov 04). He holds up 4 fingers
for "4 more years", while the same site has a picture of the aforementioned Sox brass campaigning with Kerry. Kerry had thrown out the first pitch at a Fenway game before
the DNC, and he stopped in at the ESPN broadcast booth.
Red Sox: If Grady had pulled Pedro in Game 7 of the '03 ALCS they could have had 2 WS appearances in a row.
Kerry: if he had picked Gephardt as a running mate he could have won 1 or 2 more states
(MO, IA) and we'd be seeing "Re-Elect President Kerry" bumper stickers now. Anyway, WRKO's Todd
Feinburg must have thought it would make a good pairing of politics and 'RKO's Red Sox
connection.
Former Phillies hurler Jim Bunning has been a longtime Congressman in Kentucky.
Some wrestler became gov. of Minn., and a bodybuilder/actor did the same in Calif...
And basketballer Bill Bradley became a NJ senator etc
Wouldn't it be interesting if our former lt. gov. ran for Senator in '08...and people
would have to decide between Kerry and Kerry (Healey).
Lifelong Yankee fan here but I would vote for Schilling over Kerry any day.
Big Red Sox fan but I'd vote for JETER over Kerry!
...or yes, Schilling...
I bet even "Teddy the Drunk" will distance himself from Kerry (who served in Vietnam)....
Forget it, Schilling is incapable of dealing with the press. A media meltdown would occut pretty quickly.
Aw, Schill, ya breakin' my heart . . .
McCain--a personal friend from his D'Back days.
I can't see Schilling in politics but you never know. Maybe he would be good for the press--put them in their places. Now if we can get Randy Johnson to run, he'd really put the press in their places! Nah, Randy is not the politician type.
McCain or... Barack Obama???
Curt Schilling pretty much thumbed his nose at the Red Sox owners' shameless support of John F'in Kerry in 2006, by making some campaign appearances in support of President Bush. If Schil made the above statement with a straight face, I just lost a whole lotta respect for him...
Up for a limited time: Curt talking to Todd Feinburg of
WRKO, today. About 12 minutes, 11 MB.
http://wmwm.250free.com/SenatorSchilling.mp3
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