It almost feels like a political holiday with all the excitement in the air among politicos around Wu’s resignation. Now we have a whole new perspective to speculate. So what’s the domino effect of Wu’s resignation? Things that were proceeding on a known timeline, now are not.
Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian was going to have to give up his position to run in the May primary against Wu. You can only run for one seat at a time and the deadline to file for that seat is early March of 2012. Depending on when Wu actually vacates the seat, he has said after the debt ceiling problem is solved, so maybe never, Avakian will still have the option of running for re-election if he loses in the Congressional race. And if he wins, Governor Kitzhaber can pick his replacement who will have the benefit of incumbency in 2012.
So where does that leave Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland) who was considering a run to replace Avakian as Labor Commissioner? Or how about Rep. Jules Bailey (D-Portland) who was positioned to run for her Senate spot? There were already several potential contenders for his House seat in a contested primary.
Many politicos will be watching the debt ceiling debate a little more closely as they watch the clock run out on Wu—in this case timing is everything.
