Editorial
The Oklahoman
IT looked for a time as though the race for the office of state schools superintendent would be the only election event worth watching in 2014. It was the only race drawing many candidates. Now the governor’s seat is beginning to draw interest.
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin will be difficult to unseat. She has solid conservative credentials that make her popular in deep red Oklahoma. She has plenty of money in her campaign account, and she has the power of the incumbency. Those attributes made it appear until recently that she might win re-election unopposed.
But on Dec. 17, Democratic state Rep. Joe Dorman of Rush Springs announced he was establishing an exploratory committee to evaluate running for governor. If he follows through — which appears likely because the robocalls seeking support have begun — Dorman would carry the banner for a political party that’s seen its numbers plummet at the Legislature and on statewide voter rolls.
Dorman promises to make education his priority. Given the programs and policies backed by Fallin and Republican schools Superintendent Janet Barresi, Dorman said, “I think that has to be one of our most critical issues we’ll look at.” He added on the day of his announcement that, “I don’t think she (Fallin) is as popular as she thinks she is.”
Former Republican state Rep. Randy Brogdon must feel the same way. Brogdon, of Owasso, announced on Christmas Day that he wants a second crack at Fallin, who defeated him in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2010. Brogdon became the face of the Oklahoma tea party when that movement began nationwide in 2009. He used his message of limited government and states’ rights to make a solid run for the GOP nomination, gaining 39 percent of the vote in the primary (Fallin won it with 54 percent).
If his announcement Wednesday is any indication, then the message won’t change much this time around: “Government is too big and too powerful and we all know it,” said Brogdon, who took a job in state government after losing his bid for governor. “It spends too much, borrows too much, taxes too much, regulates too much and snoops too much. We are in the fight of our lives for liberty, and I feel morally obligated to lead that fight on behalf of Oklahoma families.”
As governor, Brogdon would work to “protect Oklahoma families from the overreach of federal and state government and to restore your God given unalienable rights of life, liberty and property.” He’s calling this a “battle for liberty in Oklahoma” and says he won’t allow Oklahoma “to be a mere puppet of the federal government any longer.”
Clearly, Brogdon will seek to try to federalize the race and position himself to the right of a very conservative incumbent. Yet it’s difficult to see where he’ll be able to attack. Had Fallin expanded Medicaid or built a health insurance exchange as part of Obamacare, as some GOP governors have done, then those moves would provide openings. She did neither.
The field also includes R.J. Harris of Norman, a “constitutional libertarian” and perennial office-seeker who is vying for the Democratic nomination. While Brogdon “may be more socially conservative and I more socially tolerant,” Harris said, “we can both agree that our great state deserves much better than it is getting from Governor Fallin.”
They’ll get to make their case to the people, who suddenly have more options for governor than they did just a few weeks ago. Options, though, don’t always translate into upset victories. In the end, the only nail-biter in 2014 may yet be that race for schools superintendent.
