Draft Bob Walsh for Governor 2010

It is great to see that the state’s largest newspaper – the Providence Journal – is reporting on their political blog that Walsh is thinking about running for Governor.

Every week it seems another Democrat signals interest in the 2010 governor’s race.

This week we can add Bob Walsh to the list. Walsh, the well-known executive director of the National Education Association Rhode Island and a State House regular, put his own name into consideration today in a posting on the left-leaning political blog Rhode Island’s Future, which is run by his colleague, deputy NEA director Patrick Crowley.

But in a subsequent e-mail to The Journal this afternoon, Walsh said it doesn’t necessarily mean he is staging a run to replace outgoing Republican Governor Carcieri.

In early January, Walsh suffered a stroke during surgery and is still recovering, he reports.

“As I noted in the blog entry, the main purpose was to start the dialogue to put together the type of platform on which I would like a progressive candidate to run for governor,” Walsh tells us. “As for me being that candidate, right now I have to focus on fully recovering from my health issues, although I have been overwhelmed with the positive response I have received in the short time the entry has been posted on RI Future, and therefore have a lot of thinking to do.”

In the original posting, he outlines his position in a succinct sentence: “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.”

Walsh is no stranger to political races. In 1992, the then 31-year-old financial consultant ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

In case you are interested, click here to see the 1992 Congressional results.  Walsh lost by only 2,414 votes in the Primary and the person who beat him got clobbered in the 1992 General Election.