Highway 431 Blog

Friday, March 14, 2008

Bud Cramer Calls It Quits ::

I picked up my newspaper as usual this morning and was immediately struck by the headline that Bud Cramer would not be seeking another term. I was curious about the late timing of this announcement given that the primary will take place in early June and all indications were that Cramer would seek, and win, another term especially given that he has a war chest of around $1.7 million.

I'm sure that there is a lot of scrambling going on right now in 5th district Democratic circles looking for a suitable candidate. I have some ideas, but I'll wait a few days to see what the conventional wisdom is before I jump in with who I like to see enter the race.

If this affected only Huntsville my first thought would have been that the local power elite had already put the fix in, but given that the 5th district encompasses most of north Alabama my paranoia level just might be premature.

I still can't help but think that there is much more to Cramer's decision not to run for re-election than we have heard.

As an additional comment, Cramer sat out on participating in the House vote on the FISA provision which leaves out telecom immunity and, incidentally, holding the Bush administration accountable for spying on American citizens. Curious!

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