Democrats may tap Wicker to run against Burr

Raleigh News & Observer ^ | August 16, 2009 | Rob Christensen and Bill Krueger

[MitchellC]

Former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker is being courted as a possible Democratic opponent to Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr next year.

And while he is not committing to anything, he is listening.

Wicker, a Sanford resident who practices law in Raleigh, said he has had conversations with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, former Gov. Jim Hunt and others.

"I'm still passionate about creating jobs and a higher standard for education and affordable health care," Wicker said. "And I still have those pangs of emotion about being involved in public service. "But I have been focused on my practice and I've very happy doing that.

"I'm doing some listening," he said.

Wicker, 57, served two terms as lieutenant governor and six terms in the state House.

He lost the Democratic nomination for governor in 2000 to Mike Easley.

[MitchellC]

FYI.

[MitchellC]

NC *Ping*

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[Impy]

Thanks.

Well he’s has won statewide before. Over 10 years ago.

Not a top recruit in my estimation, easy to say that as I’ve never heard of him before. ;)

A good year should enable victory for Burr and break the ‘curse’ on his seat.

[fieldmarshaldj]

It will have been 14 years since Wicker last won a race in 2010. A decade ago, he’d have been first-tier, today he’s second-tier at best. Good news for the GOP that a lot of top candidates have passed on this (especially given the likely climate in ‘10), but still, this is the cursed seat for which no incumbent has been reelected since 1968, and even a second-tier nobody took out Elizabeth Dole last year, which shouldn’t have happened.

[incredulous joe]

Gotta think our friends in the Tar Heel State are experiencing some “buyer remorse” after 2010.

Does any candidate stand a chance while being a member of the President’s party?

[cashless]

As a resident of NC, I can honestly say, “Mmmm, fresh meat!”

[MitchellC]

You never know. I’m not as ready as others here to say that we’ll have huge gains next year.

[scooby321]

Democrats have lost all the gains in North Carolina in the last six months.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Has Mike Easley ruled out a run, or merely not said anything?

[Welcome2thejungle]

What in freaking tarnations is happening in NC? BHO carried the state and Liddy Dole losing to a radical left Democrat.

My favorite senator of all time must turning over in his grave.

[Lee'sGhost]

Wow! An epic battle of the mundane do-nothings.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I can’t see him running, or it would’ve already been mentioned by now. I think MitchellC can correct me on this, but I think Easley has some “issues”, which is one big reason why he wouldn’t run.

[MitchellC]

Yeah, there are some investigations of the Easleys under way. I haven't been keeping up with all the details, but the story is that Mike used his clout as governor to get his wife a big-bucks do-nothing job in the UNC system, at taxpayers’ expense of course, and now all of his crony buddies are covering up for him (missing e-mails on state computers, etc.).

[fieldmarshaldj]

And now, of course, you have Gov Bev who is doing her very best impersonation of Kathleen Blanco, and she ain’t even had a hurricane strike... yet. She’s definitely going to be a one-termer.

[Impy]

She’s not popular huh? Good.

[MitchellC]

The biggest name being floated right now is probably not Wicker, but Elaine Marshall, the currently serving, three-term Secretary of State. Marshall ran for the nomination in 2002 but came in third behind Erskine Bowles and Dan Blue, former Speaker of the House, whose name is also being floated again this year.

Rep. Heath Shuler, Rep. Mike McIntyre, former Treasurer Richard Moore and AG Roy Cooper have all declared they're not running.

[Impy]

Marshall is the one that beat that NASCAR guy right?

She’s definitely a stronger candidate than Wicker.

[MitchellC]

By the way, another name for another race that is being talked about, that I haven't posted any articles about yet...

NC-8, which the Dems took last year with Larry Kissell beating Robin Hayes. This is the same seat that Hayes was trying to get Panthers player Mike Minter to run for a while back. Well, now some party folks are apparently talking to long-time Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, who lost a competitive race to Perdue last year.

Just an FYI, as personally I think it's a bit foolish to look to McCrory to take that seat back. A sliver of the district runs into Charlotte but it's the most Democratic area of the city (blacks and possibly young voters around the UNC-Charlotte area), and overall he lost the district pretty badly (although he did better than Hayes). See here for a local blog post, where I discuss the numbers with the author in the comment section.

[Impy]

Well the rat Mayor of Montgomery Alabama won a GOP CD that includes only a fraction of his city.

If McCrory didn’t carry the CD in his close gubernatorial race...

I recall him being described as a borderline conservative anyway. “toms” from the blog seems to agree with that.