Tue 1 Dec 2009
This is going to be one of those SWAG post.
With the recent security breech at the White House, I have to wonder if Janet Napolitano is getting homesick? She may even be reading the recent polling data here in Arizona showing Terry Goddard leading in the race for Governor and Senator John McCain vulnerable in his re-election bid.
And with Arizona Democrats looking for someone “inspiring” to lead off the November 2010 ticket, could there be an effort to bring Janet home to run against John McCain?
She’s already proven herself three times (once for AG and twice for Governor). Could her duty at Department of Homeland Security be brief?
Let’s just say, I would not be surprised to see Janet return to Arizona and take on John McCain next year…
December 1st, 2009 at 11:31 am
She has visits coming up and more scheduled. I think it much more than a SWAG.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:46 am
I don’t see it. 2010 looks to be a tough year for Dems and McCain, should he get through a primary is formidable in a general election. Napolitano has a great job overseeing a cabinet-level agency and enjoys all those perks and power. I highly doubt she would want to drop that for a very tough and expensive election battle only to become one of 100 legislators – a job type for which she is ill-suited since she is the utlimate Type A control freak.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Oh DSW I would put the odds of this at around 3%. Janet and McCain had a deal which was made obvious by the fact that they met just before Janet was nominated for DHS and the DAY after the meeting McCain backs Janet for DHS. I don’t think this all was a coincidence.
They cut a deal where you endorse me giving me an easy confirmation and I don’t run against you in 2010. This makes even more sense with McCain being 80 by the time 2016 rolls around, so he just retires and lets Janet have her go at it. This makes the most sense to me…
December 1st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
johnny,
Arpaio and Janet cut a deal back in 2006. Have you noticed where their relationship has been lately?
I wouldn’t put it passed her to break any pledge she supposedly made with Mac before she headed out of town.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:48 pm
DSW,
But this deal makes sense for Janet, McCain has 12 million right now in cash to fight off an election fight. Where would Janet get that kind of cash in a year??
It just makes no sense, she is better off being DHS Secretary till 2012 and then she can start raising money for 2016 cuz she will need it
December 1st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
But … but isn’t she by Progressive Left definition: a “quitter” and thus not credible as a candidate for anything?
December 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
She better consider running as a Republican because the Democrats are still furious with her!
December 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Andrew Thomas for guv, Sheriff Joe for US senate.
December 1st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
DSW – my biggest problem with your post is it implies McCain wins the primary and has an opportunity to face an opponent in the General. I hope that’s not true and he gets to retire after the Primary.
December 1st, 2009 at 5:48 pm
“U.S. Senator Janet Napolitano”?
Anything is possible, but don’t bet the family homestead on it. When she left, she burned a lot of bridges with rank and file Democrats.
AKA – leaving us subject to the not-so-tender mercies of Jan and the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (the R caucus in the lege).
If she is interested in a Senate run, however, it wouldn’t surprise me if she started working on a 2012 run for Kyl’s seat.
wanumba – Her resume includes stints as a U.S. Attorney, AZ Attorney General, a term and a half as Governor of AZ, and now Secretary of Homeland Security.
Yes, she resigned as Governor in the middle of her second term, but her reason was to accept a promotion. Sarah Palin quit in the middle of her first term in AK in order to sell a book.
ashen – That’s a great idea! It would be a win/maybe win situation for Democrats. They would have to resign their County positions to make those runs, and they’re vulnerable in statewide general elections.
And even if they, especially Arpaio, won, that would still help the Dems. While an above commenter stated that he/she didn’t think that Napolitano would want to be a legislator due to her Type-A personality, I think she is smart enough to adapt.
Arpaio? Not so much.
December 1st, 2009 at 6:51 pm
“Sarah Palin quit in the middle of her first term in AK in order to sell a book.”
Not just a book, but photographs!
“A spokesman for Palin’s book tour says the crowd won’t be allowed to take photos of Palin, but can pose with her and buy copies later from a Web site.”
December 1st, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Yes, she resigned as Governor in the middle of her second term, but her reason was to accept a promotion.
………..
Napolitano quit. She had her oath of office and she quit. SHe left Arizona with a HUGE budget deficit built under her watch.
She quit. By the insistence of the MSM, NO earthly REASON is sufficient to justify quitting, and even the PERCEPTION of cut and running from a budget mess can by MSM reasoning be sufficient to not accept any excuses for skipping out.
I had no bias against Napolitano until I was instructed by the media that QUITTING governor positions is an unforgiveable no-no. If there are suddenly good reasons and justifications for governors to quit, like our neighbor Governor Richardson quitting for a promotion, then unquitting, then I’ll consider them. But until then, I have been taught that it’s the proper way to think to be very rigid and unforgiving of governor quitters.
I was very open-minded about such things, weighing the arguments and the circumstances individually, until the media told me that wasn’t the correct way to think.
December 1st, 2009 at 8:09 pm
wanumba -
Trust me, even though I’m a Democrat, I was not and am not happy about Napolitano’s departure.
She should have stuck around for two reasons -
1. She, in fact, *did* help to create the state’s fiscal mess when she accepted some of the legislature’s business tax cuts in order to get some of what she wanted through. She should have stood strongShe should have stayed to help clean up the mess.
2. The simple fact is that while Napolitano was far from perfect, when she was on the 9th floor of the Capital Tower, she was always one of the smartest people in any room down there, particularly so if she was meeting with the legislative leadership.
The same cannot be said for Jan Brewer. She’s not an idiot, but she is no smarter than Burns and Adams.
BTW – Napolitano did resign as AZ Governor, but her public service career has continued; Palin resigned in AK in order continue milking her 15 minutes of fame for her personal benefit, nothing more.
You may not see a difference there, but I do.
December 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
wanumba,
Well, then I guess, to remain ideologically consistent, the cult of celebrity (people waiting in line for up to 26 hours to see her, calling her their “savior”*) that’s been built up around Palin disqualifies her a serious political candidate…
Because I remember all that “the One” BS we had to put up with while conservatives were trying to come up with serious narrative about Obama…
* – “She’s our future, our savior,” Judy Mallette said. “We’re here to encourage her to run for president.”
December 1st, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Let’s see.
By MSM and Democrat Party standards that President Bush is totally responsible for the current budget deficit, because he “left a fiscal mess,” called “the Bush deficit spending” then Janet Napolitano, to be FAIR and UNBIASED, must be held to EXACTLY the same standards. She quit the state and left behind the “Napolitano Deficit.”
Therefore, just as Obama is not at all responsible for overspending, because it’s Obama’s predecessor’s fault, thus Brewer is no way responsible for a single penny of overspending, because it was all Napolitano’s doing. By the “Bush Application” then it is not valid for Current Gov. Brewer to be held responsible for Napolitano’s overspending and State Debt, AND just like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, never can the Arizona legislature, which is in control of spending be blamed, all blame rests SOLELY with the former chief executive, in this case, Napolitano.
Napolitano then quit, which is by ALL media rhetoric, unforgivable, but it’s OKAY only in HER special case, because she promoted up to Washington,DC where her very first act was to announce that returning US military were ALL to be OFFICIALLY classified as potential terrorists under Department of Homeland Defense criteria.
But she assured us that it wasn’t her fault because she actually hadn’t read the document that went out under her signature.
December 1st, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Come on home Janet – we miss you and we love you and we want one chance, just one chance, to put a stake through your heart and kill your political career once and for all!