Draft Bob Walsh for Governor 2010

This morning on the RIFuture blog, Bob Walsh announced his intention to contemplate running for Governor of Rhode Island:

By now, many of you are asking yourselves a simple question – is Bob Walsh crazy enough to actually consider running for Governor, or is he up to something else? Would Rhode Island voters even vote for a Brown graduate, former banker, East Greenwich resident for Governor? Could a candidate with deep roots in both the labor and progressive communities win a multicandidate Democratic primary against so many current office holders at a time when people are so cynical about anyone currently holding elected office? How about an actual campaign organization – does he have the contacts with the experienced campaign managers, fundraisers and field operatives to actually make this work? How would he hold up in debates?

Maybe 2010 won’t be my year to run for Governor, and this will actually be my attempt to create a forum where issue-by-issue, a real discussion can be held in the virtual Rhode Island Future world about the development of a real progressive campaign platform, so that can become the standard by which progressives judge the many candidates vying for our support.  Maybe some of those candidates will even adopt ides developed right here.

You already know the basics about my perspective – progressive, pro-public education, pro-labor, pro-job creation and economic development, pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-marriage equality, and supportive of a fair tax policy for our state. But there are lots of details to be filled in on those issues, and many other issues to consider, some of which we cannot even predict yet, as a 2010 gubernatorial platform gets developed. So let’s do some work on Rhode Island Future so we have something to share with candidates for Governor, as well as establish some standards by which to judge them.

I think this is a great idea!  You?