More thoughts on governor

Trying to flesh out some more possible names for the governor's race in 2010, which is more wide open now that Johnny Isakson is going to stick to the U.S. Senate. For Democrats, the name that is drawing some confusion is Jim Marshall. Ed at Tondee's Tavern said that Marshall wasn't interested, but two other sources said they've always heard that the congressman had been eyeing the Governor's Mansion for some time.

Anyway, here's what I've got ...

Republicans
Casey Cagle
Glenn Richardson
Lynn Westmoreland
John Oxendine (already declared)
Karen Handel

Democrats
Thurbert Baker
Jim Marshall
DuBose Porter
John Barrow
Cathy Cox

Couple of thoughts on this ... folks will casually dismiss Oxendine, but he's got good name recognition and will have been in the race longer than anyone, which enables him to dominate the news cycle. While a Richardson or Cagle candidacy would give Democrats the best chance, I think the GOP will ultimately shy away from those two options and give Handel, Oxendine and Westmoreland hard looks (the latter would be a formidable candidate should he opt to run).

On the Democratic side, I'd sign up to help Cox today though I'm not sure she wants to get back into politics. I'm a big fan of Porter, but I fear he'd be Mark Taylor redux (then again, Porter's no Taylor and would employ a Georgia-based strategy rather than the D.C. pundit one that fueled Taylor's bid).

I tossed Barrow's name out there for two main reasons, the first being his success in tough, conservative-leaning districts and the other being the long, family legacy he has in the state. Barrow can frustrate me at times, but he can raise money and run a tough campaign so he'd be a good candidate.