Gina Raimondo (D-Rhode Island)
Nearly two months later, I am still broken up about Cranston
Mayor Allan Fung’s loss. He was not a bad candidate (although the Blockhead
commercial was a bad move). In comparison, Raimondo was no better, since she
ran against her reform record, could not court strong union support, and sports
an elitist streak no matter how many ‘Gansetts she
has sold or drinks. Besides, she won only a plurality of the votes. Following a
run-off, Fung would have run her off without trouble.
One could blame Fung’s loss on the Cool Moose turned
Moderate, but Republicans must do more than complain about their bad luck. Hopefully,
they will work behind the scenes more extensively as well as gradually,
restructure the party from the ground up, dispense with the brutal primaries
(and the traitorous candidates who run for mayor of Providence only to endorse
and benefit Democrats), plus do something to minimize future third party
spoilers.
Still, Rhode Island politics remains ever in turmoil, with
the Chafee name in tatters, but Republicans are back in the black (or red) with
more seats in the General Assembly.
As for the Democrats in 2014, they got shaken, rattled, and
shellacked, especially in the gubernatorial campaigns. Aside from the
protest-vote win of Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania, and the deeper blue hue in Oregon
(where a corrupt governor, with a mail-order bride and a failed Obamacare
website, won reelection along with broadening Democratic majorities in the
state legislature), Governor-elect Gina Raimondo is the only Democratic winner
with outstanding credibility (on paper) as a reformer as well as a progressive
liberal. General Treasurer Raimondo ascends Smith Hill to become the 75th Governor of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the state’s first female
chief executive, the weakest governor in the country, yet with the strongest
Democratic record.
Her profile, position, and political ground-game could
catapult into a wider campaign. Congress? Sure, but why try to bump off petty
place-holders like Jim Langevin or Grand Theft Auto Cicilline? She already won
a statewide office, so why settle for something half-way? US Senate? Certainly,
but the next election, barring sudden death or resignation, won’t be until
2018.
Perhaps the Presidency. Gina in 2016? Sounds implausible,
even laughable.
Think again. Former First Lady, US Senator, Presidential
contender, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been seeking the White
House for six years, and is wearing thin on voters, pundits, and the media
class. The inevitable candidate of 2008, she lost by slim margins because of
identity politics, including the stadium-level endorsement from Oprah for
Obama. The Queen of Day Time only solidified that race would define the
Democratic nominee as opposed to gender, or character and experience. Six years
later, and the failed Obama Administration drifting into irrelevance, partisan
progressives are disappointed with Obama’s victory for K Street and Wall
Street. They feel played (and played out) over the race card. Today, a rising
tide of low-information (and low-intelligence) Democratic voters are ready to
pride themselves on electing the First Woman President.
Will it be Hillary, the inevitable nominee once again? The
polling suggests that she has all the support, but Iowa focus groups want
someone more progressive, more populist. NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck
Todd is tired of Slick Willy’s Better Half, too. From Benghazi, to
terrible People Magazine sales, to the return of apathetic voters looking
for the next thrill, ancient-looking Hillary is past her prime.
Enter senior US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Complete
with Eleven
Commandments of Progressivism, she could lead her progressive peers out of
Hillary fatigue. Her frequent
denials of interest in a Presidential bid assure us of the exact opposite.
Her last-minute fiery speech against the CRomnibus, including attacks against
Big Banks and Wall Street, sent a tingle up populist spines, left and right. Now MoveOn. org has drafted
a petition for Warren to run, the latest threat to the Democrats’ version of
Mitt Romney.
Yet US News’ Mort Zuckerman predicts doom if the Democratic
Party drops Clinton and props up ultra-leftist Warren. They could find in New
England another progressive Democrat of deep convictions, but praised
by the New York Times, lauded
by the National Review, and attacked
by the discredited Rolling Stone, who
reformed pensions, took
on the unions (who are losing all over the country), yet prevailed running
with rather than away
from President Obama. Such a candidate could outshine Hillary, unite the
liberal base and centrist Democrats for the nomination, then fight for the Presidency
without embarrassing her party.
That candidate is Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. She
is one of few Democrats still siting on a thin bench of potential Democratic contenders,
replete with academic, business, and governmental connections, plus Bill
Clinton photo-ops. Besting a three-way primary against pedigree (Clay Pell) and
diversity (Angel Taveras), Rhode Island’s Governor-elect can translate partisan
unity toward national comity for a 2016 primary victory.
Plus, Raimondo is a woman, satisfying the substantive need
of liberal voters to gratify their quest for identity equity in national
politics.
Gina for President? MoveOn. org should post another petition
for Raimondo, and see how many sign on.