Rx for Raleigh
2011-07-19 - by
Tom Fetzer must feel like the baseball scout who discovered Derek Jeter.
Randall Williams looks like a consultant’s dream candidate for mayor of Raleigh. He’s an ob-gyn who’s done humanitarian work in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti. He’s a fresh face and a fiscal conservative. He has no political baggage (or, judging from the N&O story, political opinions).
Not to jinx him, but he reminds me a bit of 1998-era John Edwards: political outsider, avid runner, even the bangs over his forehead. (Memo to Tom: Beware $400 haircuts.) One big difference, of course, is that instead of suing doctors, Williams is one.
This is bad news for Billie Redmond. Normally, being a businesswoman with lots of community involvement is a strong profile. The problem is that she’s running as a moderate Republican. That’s a political no-woman’s-land these days, as Democrats hate Republicans and Republicans hate moderates.
Nancy McFarlane, according to the N&O, is running as an independent, but with the help of a lot of Mayor Charles Meeker’s Democratic friends.
Back in 1993, Tom Fetzer’s election as mayor presaged a strong Republican year in 1994. This time, it might suggest what’s ahead for the Republican gubernatorial race in 2012: the emergence of a fresh conservative face to challenge a Pat McCrory who is too moderate for some Republicans.
Rx for Raleigh
2011-07-19/
Tom Fetzer must feel like the baseball scout who discovered Derek Jeter.
Randall Williams looks like a consultant’s dream candidate for mayor of Raleigh. He’s an ob-gyn who’s done humanitarian work in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti. He’s a fresh face and a fiscal conservative. He has no political baggage (or, judging from the N&O story, political opinions).
Not to jinx him, but he reminds me a bit of 1998-era John Edwards: political outsider, avid runner, even the bangs over his forehead. (Memo to Tom: Beware $400 haircuts.) One big difference, of course, is that instead of suing doctors, Williams is one.
This is bad news for Billie Redmond. Normally, being a businesswoman with lots of community involvement is a strong profile. The problem is that she’s running as a moderate Republican. That’s a political no-woman’s-land these days, as Democrats hate Republicans and Republicans hate moderates.
Nancy McFarlane, according to the N&O, is running as an independent, but with the help of a lot of Mayor Charles Meeker’s Democratic friends.
Back in 1993, Tom Fetzer’s election as mayor presaged a strong Republican year in 1994. This time, it might suggest what’s ahead for the Republican gubernatorial race in 2012: the emergence of a fresh conservative face to challenge a Pat McCrory who is too moderate for some Republicans.