Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki‘s announcement today that he’ll run for re-election and not for U.S. Senate against Harry Reid comes with an interesting side story: Krolicki could have made a credible run, and national GOP leaders were cool with the prospect. Krolicki said he met with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the man in charge of recruiting new Republican senators, and that other Republicans “embraced me.” While Krolicki wouldn’t say if Cornyn (or U.S. Sen. John McCain, with whom he had private conversations about the race) encouraged him to run, he did say, “They did not ask me to get out of this race.”
(Given the bad blood between McCain and Reid, I can only imagine how those private conversations went. I assume there must have been profanity.)
The Krolicki Potentiality, brief though it may have been, is important for a couple of reasons. (Leave aside for a moment the fact that Krolicki — who’s won three statewide campaigns — would obviously be on a short list of qualified candidates, especially after the attorney general declined to pursue an indictment of Krolicki for allegedly misusing state funds.)
First, it shows that national leaders are not exactly sanguine about the current spate of candidates, led by Sue Lowden, Danny Tarkanian, Sharron Angle and John Chachas. (But we’ve known that ever since the vigorous but unsuccessful wooing of U.S. Rep. Dean Heller — probably the most formidable candidate who could have run against Reid this time around.) Second, it shows that even a last-minute candidate who has potential would be welcomed into the race, which would not be the case if national leaders thought they had their man (or woman).
Lowden was first out of the gate with a statement acknowledging Krolicki’s decision, saying, ““I have always admired and respected my friend Brian Krolicki, and when I served as our state party chairman [sic], I was proud to have stood by his side during the difficult and partisan attacks he faced. Brian called me a short time ago to notify me that he would not be running for the U.S. Senate this cycle. I appreciate his decision and I will work hard to earn his support in my campaign.”
Right on her heels, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had this slam on tap: “Washington Republicans recruited an indicted lieutenant governor because the current crop of candidates includes Sue Lowden who still wants to campaign with John Ensign, Danny Tarkanian who supports dumping nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, and Sharron Angle who wants to let insurance companies refuse to cover mammograms without paying a higher premium. With Washington Republicans struggling to find a candidate viable in Nevada, maybe they should see if Dan Coats can move there and give it a try.”
Bam! That’s just mean, especially since Krolicki is, technically, no longer “indicted.”
UPDATE: Reid’s campaign put out a statement moments ago. It reads:
“Krolicki’s announcement leaves National Republicans scrambling to reconfirm their support for candidates whose achievements include sitting on the Nevada board of a bank seized by the federal government and receiving an F from the NRA. How many times can they undercut the Republican field by trying to recruit other candidates, and then rush back to embrace the current field when they get rejected time and again?”
“We would also like to thank Lt. Gov. Krolicki for highlighting the importance of the new clean energy transmission line made possible through a provision Sen. Reid personally inserted into the Recovery Act. This project puts Nevada on track to lead the nation in clean energy technology and will create 400 jobs directly as well as thousands of jobs indirectly.”
UPDATE 2: And Tarkanian’s statement: “Brian Krolicki would have been a welcome and worthy candidate for the U.S. Senate. Let me be clear that I found his recent consideration anything but ‘disingenuous’ as some have implied. I know that he was motivated by the same desire I have to get our country headed in the right direction again. He has my immediate support for his re-election for lieutenant governor.”
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Tags: Brian Krolicki, Harry Reid
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Brian Krolicki is in charge of economic development in this state-that is his job, that is what he is paid to do. But, Nevada has the second highest unemployment rate in the country and thus Krolicki’s own statement, “I love being lt. gov. The portfolio … is probably the most important porfolio [sic] at this time in NV’s economic history” actually highlights what an epic failure he has been as LTG!
Fire the bastard! He has already proven he is in over his head! We need jobs and Krolicki isn’t producing any! Next!