Multimillionaire Republican Businesswoman not running against Carper in '06
Multimillionaire businesswoman Michele Rollins has decided not to challenge Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., for his seat in 2006.
In a letter to state Republican officials Monday, Rollins said her business interests -- which range from the Dover Downs racetrack and casino to the Rose Hall resort in Jamaica -- ruled out a Senate run.
Rollins is the widow of former Delaware lieutenant governor and Republican Party activist John W. Rollins Sr.
Her decision leaves conservative Mike Protack as the only declared Republican challenger to Carper, who will be seeking a second term.(DD: Protrack has no chance to even mount a viable campaign against Carper)
Protack, an airline pilot and father of two from Yorklyn, had raised $10,010 for his Senate campaign as of late September, according to his first report to the Federal Election Commission. He had spent $8,500 of that total and started the winter fundraising cycle with $1,510 in his campaign coffers.
Meanwhile, Carper, a fixture on the Democrats' national fundraising circuit, raised $1.6 million in the first nine months of the year and headed into October with more than $1.9 million in the bank.
So Carper is a lock for reelection in 2006. The Republicans only other possible candidate is Attorney General Jane Brady.
But Brady, pictured above, was recently nominated to a seat on the Delaware Superior Court in New Castle County, in a very Machiavellian move by Democratic Governor Ruth Ann Minner.
The nomination was more like a deal with benefits for both sides. The arrangement represents a convergence of interests between Brady, a three-term Republican, and Minner, a two-term Democrat.
For Brady, it spares her from what was expected to be a grueling reelection campaign next year when the Democrats are planning to field Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III, the Senator Biden's son, as their candidate. She was barely reelected in 2002, 48-45-7, after a Green Party candidate spoiled the chances of Democrat Carl Schnee.
For Minner, it gives her the opportunity to appoint her own choice to serve the remainder of Brady's term, as well as to weaken singlehandedly the Republicans' waning grip on statewide offices. The Republicans would be down to two of the nine posts with only U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle and state Auditor R. Thomas Wagner Jr. to represent their party.
Further, Gov. Minner had to appoint a Republican to the Superior Court seat anyway, because the state constitution requires the courts to be balanced politically. Brady would be replacing Judge Richard S. Gebelein, who was my law school professor on Delaware Civil Procedure. Judge Gebelein was once a Republican attorney general himself and he has taken early retirement to accept an international judgeship in Bosnia.
Brady's appointment did not come without some Miersesque qualities. Members of the state's bench and bar complain that Brady is a political hack with no judicial experience, who is wholly unqualified to be a judge. (Unlike Myers, I disagree, as lawyers become judges all the time, and being the Attorney General means you are the state's top civil and criminal lawyer, and hence you have experience).
Further, there were those who objected to the raw politics involved in that that I have identified above.
These complaints were heard on the Senate floor during the debate on Brady's confirmation.
Prominent Wilmington defense attorney Joe Hurley took the Senate floor Tuesday to claim that associates of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner cut a deal to ensure that Brady's name would be on a list sent to her by a nominating panel that is tasked with providing the governor with a list of qualified candidates for judgeships throughout the state.
In this case, he said, the committee broke with tradition and sent Minner two lists of three names as a form of protest. He also told the Senate, again citing unnamed sources, that the Delaware Bar Association voted 17-0 to not recommend Brady as qualified, but opted not to go public with its opposition.
Hurley called on the Senate to block the move because "in order to complete the conspiracy, they need accomplices after the fact." But Brady was confirmed by a vote of 20-1.
Brady must assume her seat on the Superior Court in New Castle County within 30 days. However, she does not need to resign as attorney general before then. Once she steps down, Gov. Minner will name someone to serve until Brady's term expires in January 2007. The job is up for election in November 2006.
And this is where the fun begins. Like with the speculation of who Governor-elect Corzine will choose to be his successor in the Senate and likely party nominee in 2006 for the seat; Minner gets a chance to wade into one of the epic political battles that is brewing for 2006 and 2008.
While Minner said she did not know who she'll name, there is wild speculation that it could be Senator Biden's son, Beau Biden.
The state Republicans, in the ironic move of the week, urged Minner not to choose Joseph "Beau" Biden III, Esquire, the probable 2006 candidate, as that would reak of political cronyism. This from the party of Michael "Brownie" Brown.
The Republicans also point out Biden's young age and inexperience. At age 35, Biden has only been a member of the Delaware bar for a mere three years. Indeed, he failed the Delaware bar exam at least twice, and I know that because I failed it along with him twice. But it is nice to know that I am qualified to be Attorney General of a state. I am nearly 30 and a lawyer for three years. In five years, I will be set. Oh wait, Senator Biden is not my father. Damn.
The Republicans are right. Beau Biden's potential candidacy does smack of cronyism. He would never be a candidate but for his father. Yet, President George W. Bush would have never been elected President or Governor without having a former President as his father. Same for Jeb. Hillary Clinton gets no where without Bill.
So, Biden is the likely nominee for Attorney General next year, and as such there is debate as to whether to give the kid some experience before heading into the election or whether to have a caretaker serve until 2007. Former state Rep. Sid Balick or former U.S. Attorney Carl Schnee have been mentioned as possible appointees who would be unlikely to run in 2006.
So that is the update from the First State. I will update when a new Democratic Attorney General is appointed.