Is he ready for prime time?
Last week, I recall reading on some inner page of one of the three newspapers I read daily that former Democratic NH Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is still thinking about another run for the US Senate seat now occupied by John E. Sununu. I have written in this prior posting that if she decides to take another crack at it, Sununu might find himself in a tough re-election battle-- one that I'm not too sure he could win.
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With that in mind, you would think the junior Senator would be carefully planning his every move from this time forward to the election in preparation for a long, tough campaign. Unfortunately, if the description of John E. Sununu's performance for reporters as he exited a party luncheon is any indication, he is far from fighting trim at this point. Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post:
Senate Republicans, dreading President Bush's prime-time address tonight calling for more U.S. troops in Iraq, emerged from their weekly party luncheon yesterday displaying more dance steps than the Joffrey Ballet..[snip]....the Republicans' principal dancer yesterday was Sen. John Sununu (N.H.), perhaps the most endangered of all GOP senators in 2008. "We haven't discussed 'the plan,'" he maintained. "That would suggest that we were told exactly what is going to be announced tomorrow, and that is certainly not the case.".Reporters had barely digested that one when Sununu offered a second disavowal: "I don't really know what they're thinking about proposing, so given that, it wouldn't be wise for me to suggest that I do or don't know whether their conditions are appropriate.".Is the escalating White House headed for a conflict with the antiwar Congress? "I don't know. I don't know," Sununu repeated. "Because we don't know what the president has proposed.".Sununu kept punting, for a painful 15 minutes before reporters released him. "There's clearly no one else in the hall to talk to," he quipped.
How could he be so unprepared? How could he not know reporters might be asking about his thoughts on the issue of the day? Does he even have an inkling? A person with rock-solid beliefs and principles never really is a loss for an opinion on something, are they? This looks pretty bad. Senator Sununu needs to do a lot better than the above-noted encounter with the news media if he thinks he's gonna win a second term. Come on John... WAKE UP!
