Draft Brad Henry for U.S. Senate

Jim Inhofe is the worst Senator around right now. Perhaps you could also make a case for few others. Jeff Sessions and Mitch McConnell both come to mind but Inhofe’s global warming lunacy puts him in a league of his own.

I do not want my state to suffer under another six years of embarrassment.  We do have plenty of Democrats that could give Inhofe a run for his money. Our Attorney General, Drew Edmonson, would definitely make for a strong candidate. Brad Henry, however, our incredibly popular Democratic Governor, would instantly move this race into the tossup or lean Dem. category. While Henry has said he is not interested, there is still room for persuasion. When it comes to defeating Inhofe, we have to shoot for the best possible candidate. I have taken the first step in trying to get Governor Henry in this race and I invite all of you to join with me.

Why Henry?

In an ubber conservative state that gave President Bush one of his widest margins of victory, Henry managed to trounce his Republican opponent this past cycle 67% to 33%. Bear in mind that Henry barley made it to the governor’s office to begin with. Back in 2002, he edged out Steve Largent by less than one percent thanks in part to Gary Richardson, an anti-government Ross Perot type who ran as an independent.

His opposition was more than formidable. Thinking he would automatically be competitive in such a Republican trending state, Istook gave up his coveted Oklahoma City based U.S. House seat to run for governor. But his campaign would fizzle like crazy because of Henry’s remarkable popularity.

Not only is Henry one of our state’s most popular Democratic politicians, he has also been a solid governor. Frank Keating, his wingnut Republican predecessor, ran one of the worst, if not the worst, budget deficits in state history. Put simply, our state was a total mess. Henry amazingly turned this deficit into a surplus without massive cuts to education and health care. This is by far his most significant accomplishment so far.

While Henry is not the typical progressive pit bull that netroots movements usually support, his laid back, bipartisan style is a perfect fit for Oklahoma. 

Dumping Inhofe

Until recently, I had always thought that Inhofe was just another run of the mill conservative Republican. His notorious reaction to the Abu_Gharib prison scandal, however, made me realize that Inhofe was beyond crazy: 

“I’m probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment,” Sen. James Inhofe said during a hearing on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

And then of course, you all know that Inhofe is the global warming deniers go-to-guy in Washington. Not only is he denial of one our country’s most pressing environmental concerns, he routinely struts around with lunatic comments like these that do nothing but embarrass his home state:

“What would happen to the Weather Channel’s ratings if all the sudden people weren’t scared anymore?”

Comments like these reek of a level of stupidity, craziness and just downright idiocy that don’t belong in the U.S. Senate. I want this man out. And the best way to ensure that this happens is to run our governor, one of the strongest candidates Oklahoma Democrats have had in a long time.

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3 thoughts on “Draft Brad Henry for U.S. Senate”

  1. You lay out a good case, but I’m just not that optimistic about Henry taking the plunge into a nasty Senate race.

    My bet is: if Chuck Schumer can’t make a Henry candidacy happen, no one can.

  2. It would be tough to beat Inhofe though.  I’d still prefer Barry Switzer so Brad won’t have a blemish on his record for higher office one day.

  3. progressive State Senator Andrew Rice is being pushed to run….he had considerable support for his state senate race from DFA, 21st Century Democrats and others both in and out of the state because of his unique political bio….he got into politics after his brother was killed on 9/11 in the WTC.

    His website:
    http://www.oksenate….

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