Bill Lee Out

Mar 12th, 2008 by Dave

In an email to friends and supporters today, retired Judge Bill Lee announced his decision not to run for Governor in 2008.

Posted in Election 2008 - Delaware

10 Responses to “Bill Lee Out”

on 12 Mar 2008 at 12:10 pm1Nancy Willing

Now you guys can finally run your pilot. I don’t think that he is going to disappoint anyone, really. As noxious as was much of the baiting that went back and forth between Protack and supporters of this blog and others, I hope that the GOP pays attention to the Protack platform and get behind him as a candidate. He is going to be a decent candidate.
on 12 Mar 2008 at 12:23 pm2R Smitty

Damn. I was looking forward to a new postcard. It’s been a long time since the last one…oh since about shortly after Alan announced he wouldn’t run.

Well, unless something happens that I am totally in the dark about, there are two R’s left who nobody other than themselves (and loyalists) saw as a November candidate.
on 12 Mar 2008 at 2:56 pm3DavidAnderson

I think you all have consistently under estimate Mike Protack. I am not a “loyalist”, but I do respect him as a person and I see him surrounding himself with competent people who will insure he is a respectable candidate. I just don’t understand the viseral reaction by some against him. I don’t share it. If he is the party nominee, I will vote for him. He can bring new people to the party and if Markell is the nominee, he can give him a run for his millions by being the candidate who can fuse the small business people and the labor people into one team.

I think the party now needs to get down to what matters. Keep the house. Tap a strong Lt. Gov. candidate who can win regardless of top of the ticket and set ourselves up for the future. It is time for plan B my friends. Protack thinks he can win. Fine, get out of his way. The party needs to look to the future. The party can’t win the governor’s race at this point with a new candidate unless it is someone like Wagner, Spence, or maybe Clatworthy (subtracting those who already said they won’t run) and except for the Speaker none of those guys are interested. Judge Lee would have been good, but it won’t be. The key is to build locally and hold the house so we keep a two party state (or else we could get reapportioned into a ten year oblivion). We need strong candidates at the local level.

We need to build the party and take advantage of the cross over McCain will bring.
on 12 Mar 2008 at 4:54 pm4Rick

It’s going to be a bumpy flight…..and a rough landing.
on 12 Mar 2008 at 8:00 pm5R Smitty

*rimshot*
on 13 Mar 2008 at 8:00 am6Al Mascitti

” I see him surrounding himself with competent people who will insure he is a respectable candidate. ”

David, I agree that Mike Protack offers a platform that shouldn’t scare off Republicans. But who are these people you speak of? Mike has made a habit of opposing the party bosses (who don’thave much party to boss around anymore), but if he has assembled a “kitchen cabinet” of advisers, he hasn’t publicized it.
on 13 Mar 2008 at 8:52 am7RickJ

Agreed Al.

Keep in mind, during his past runs, he has made a point of questioning the decisions of the candidates who defeated him in primaries and conventions. His supposition is that every electoral loss is not a Democrat’s success, but a Republican’s failure. By making that supposition, he denigrates every Republican who was in the decision-making process, which includes the people who have organized GOTC efforts, run polls, made phone calls, handed out leaflets, and donated money. That’s a lot of people to cast aside before any election.

Remember as well, Al, that you can recall Protack’s strong pro-life stance - which rarely gets talked about anymore. Protack’s current passion is for universal health care - which is going to cost a fortune regardless of his claims. In the eyes of most Republicans, universal health care is the province of the Hillary Clintons of the world. That isn’t going to sell nearly as well as Protack thinks.
on 13 Mar 2008 at 2:47 pm8DavidAnderson

You don’t believe in Universal Access to healthcare? Silly, because we are already paying the bill. We should do it in a sensible, compassionate, and efficient way which respects personal choice and the market. Mike Protack rejects socialized universal healthcare. He is more free market and free choice than many on this subject. Romney, and Schwartzenager come to mind. Study his proposal then criticize them if you like.

You criticize Mike Protack because he cares about people. The unborn, the ill, those suffering economically, and I don’t know who else is on your list. I think that is a major problem with some elements of the party. The fact Mr. Protack is not afraid to point them out may rankle some, but I don’t think most voters will agree.
on 14 Mar 2008 at 10:43 am9DavidAnderson

Al, one of the people is his new campaign manager. He is a veteran of winning campaigns for both parties (mostly the GOP). He is capable, smart, and able to raise money. Since I am not part of the Protack campaign, I will not step on their timing for announcements. So don’t think I am dodging you, it is just not my place to disclose names in a public forum. They will do it in their own time. These people are really risking scorn from their friends (I recall some of my email for just saying nice things about him) as they are well respected in the party, so when they do this it may be a team announcement.

I am trying to keep in touch with various campaigns across the state. If I have time I will touch base with every state wide campaign so you can get the best information available.

As for Rick’s contention that Mike is dising every volunteer in the party, respectfully, that is the second silly thing you said. Your posts are usually better. Mike was one of those volunteers and so were his family. He is saying we are off target at a strategic level, not a tactical level. Get real. We know their are mega trends affecting the NE as well as registrations shifts caused by migration into the state. That is not the fault of party leadership. What will be our fault is if we don’t compensate. When you take the trends as a whole they are alarming for our party. We are where the Democrats were 20 years ago except we don’t have the farm team. With the loss of Kent levy court, we control no county governments, are down almost 2 to 1 in the state senate, have 2 of 9 statewide offices, are down to a 3 seat majority in the state house, and aren’t even trying that hard with city council, and school board races. There is a problem. We seem more content to divide up a shrinking pie than bake new ones.
on 14 Mar 2008 at 9:45 pm10Another Candidate For Governor « That’s Elbert With An “E”

[…] time candidate Bill Lee sent out an email this week announcing that he will not seek the office […]

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