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Takes a couple shots, but all in all good messaging for our side.

Posted: April 30, 2010
NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

There are a number of lawyers planning to go the Republican state
convention. Part of it could be to ensure they are not drafted to run for
attorney general.

This includes Ferris Wharton, who was the Republican candidate the last time
in 2006.

His unwavering stance this time is to *Sherman out*, as the political
expression goes. It refers to William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War
general whose politics were as scorch-earthed as his command when he
squelched talk of the presidency by declaring, "I will not accept if
nominated."

Attorney general is the one glaring deficiency for the party in what
otherwise has been a strong recruiting performance for its statewide ballot
in 2010 -- particularly with Mike Castle for the Senate and Michele Rollins
for the House of Representatives.

It leaves the Delaware Republicans in danger of going to their convention,
where they will endorse statewide candidates May 15 in Rehoboth Beach, with
nobody to anoint for attorney general.

Somebody get the Kryptonite.

The Republicans weathered seven losses over 36 years for the Senate seat Joe
Biden kept in the Democrats' column, until he left strictly on his own terms
for the vice presidency, and now Beau Biden is running unscathed for a
second term as attorney general?

"We're hopeful. It's a big decision, especially in this economy, for people
to walk away from gainful employment to seek office," said Tom Ross, the
Republican state chair.

"One of the realities is, his father is the vice president of the United
States. When a candidate can bring the resources that Beau Biden can, it
makes the calculus a little more difficult."

In a sense, Beau Biden created the situation himself. He was supposed to be
running for senator after the interregnum of Ted Kaufman, a trusted family
adviser, but U-turned back to attorney general amid the public horror over
the sex abuse case of the Sussex County pediatrician accused of preying on
his own patients.

The Republicans were expecting Wharton to run, but he was interested only if
it was an open race. If Biden was staying in, Wharton was staying out.

Not that Wharton approves of the way Biden has handled the office -- not
with some problem prosecutions like the unsolved murder at Delaware State
University, staff shuffling at the highest levels, and troubling questions
about the pediatrician's case, which is the subject of two inquiries, one
ordered by the governor and the other by the Attorney General's Office
itself.

Wharton is dubious, though, whether such concerns can be voiced adequately
within the confines of a campaign, particularly after Biden spent a year
away as a National Guard JAG captain in Iraq.

"The numbers didn't add up, and it wasn't going to work," Wharton said. "I
think he gets a bit of a pass based on his being gone for a year."

Biden shrugged off the criticism. "It was an incredible honor to serve in
Iraq," he said. "I don't think you ever stop proving yourself to the people.
In public life, you have to earn their trust every single day. I do my best
every single day to protect the citizens of the state."

The dirty little secret of the Republican Party is it actually could benefit
from not putting up much of a fight for attorney general.

Oh, there will be someone. It would be embarrassing for the Republicans not
to harry a Biden, especially while they are relishing the idea of
embarrassing the Democrats by installing Castle in the vice president's old
Senate seat.

The Republicans would not mind finding a candidate who could impress the
voters enough to win the office in 2014.

Parties, like people, have only so much time, money and energy. As the 2010
election year has unfolded, the Republicans want to send Castle to the
Senate and keep the congressional seat he is giving up. They are desperate
to take back the state House of Representatives and think they might slip in
Colin Bonini as state treasurer with a primary in the other party.

There is really not enough oxygen left for attorney general, too.

Besides, there is nothing that could rouse the Democrats more than a call to
defend a Biden. It could impact every race on the ballot. Not to mention it
could bring the vice president riding to the rescue. That would really get
the Democrats stirred up.

Joe Biden could be resigned to seeing his Senate seat go. But his son?
Never.

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Alexander Snyder-Mackler
(302) 598-867