FL-AG: Aronberg Will Run

Florida Democratic state Senator Dave Aronberg has made up his mind, and he will indeed be running for attorney general:

Casting himself as a consumer advocate and a protege of popular former Democratic attorney general Bob Butterworth, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, announced today he’ll run for attorney general in 2010. […]

Aronberg, who could face a tough Democratic primary for the job, highlighted his work as an assistant attorney general under Butterworth, who left office in 2002 because of term limits.

“I learned from the best… We need to return to the days of Bob Butterworth, of an Attorney General who stands up for consumers,” Aronberg said.

Aronberg is the first candidate to throw his hat in the ring for the office that Republican Bill McCollum is vacating in order to pursue his gubernatorial ambitions, but he may not have the field to himself: fellow state Sen. Dan Gelber and ex-state Sen. Rod Smith have also expressed interest in the job. While no one wants to see a contested primary here, it may be unavoidable. Opportunities to move up at the statewide level in Florida don’t grow on orange trees.

This also means that the DCCC will have to go back to the well for a challenger to frosh GOP Rep. Tom Rooney in the 16th CD. Aronberg was their top choice, but the committee’s recruiters have also been talking to St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Craft as an alternative.