Cagle not ruling out run for Governor in '10

GAINESVILLE - In his first in-depth interview since capturing the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor, state Senator Casey Cagle does not rule out running for Governor in 2010.

Cagle won the nomination in a landslide over Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and Georgia Republican Party and a well-known GOP operative both in Georgia and around the country.

Given the political climate in Georgia, the Gainesville state Senator is expected to be the front-runner for Lt. Governor in the November General Election, regardless of who the Democratic nominee is. That will be decided in an Aug. 8 runoff. There will also be a Libertarian candidate in the race.

At a taping of this week's Northeast Georgia This Week, which airs on WDUN NEWS TALK 550 (like AccessNorthGa.com, a division of Jacobs Media) Sunday mornings at 5:35, Cagle, when asked if he might use the Lt. Governor's office as a stepping stone to the top job, laughed and said "You know that's a long way off and we've still got one more hurdle to overcome, clearly, but it does put you in a position to, obviously, be in a spot to make a bid for the gubernatorial race."

And, he added "You never say 'never'...you never rule things out, I'm going to be very, very content in this Lt. Governor's position and we'll see..."

WHY HE RAN

Cagle, a 12-year veteran of the state Senate, said the seeds for his race for Lt. Governor were really planted when he first ran for state Senate in 1994 even though he may not have known it at the time.

"I made a commitment that I would only serve in the senate for twelve years and I would hold myself to term limits and as a result of that my senate colleagues knew that I would be leaving the state Senate and they asked me to run for Lt. Governor."

Cagle says things "really began to fall into place" and he knew that running for the post was the right thing to do.

Cagle says he set out to do two things: one was to organize the business community and elected officials across Georgia and both of those proved to be "very, very beneficial" to his campaign. He says improving job growth in the state and the education system will be at the top of his legislative agenda as Lt. Governor.

Cagle said the keys to his victory in the primary were his 12 years experience in the Senate and cultivating strong relationships all over Georgia. "We knew that we could put together a very strong campaign and we did exactly that." He also says he believes Georgians "truly wanted an experienced leader that they could trust." He added he was successful in bringing together a coalition of business leaders in Georgia and conservative groups such as the Christian Coalition and Georgia Right-to-Life to run a campaign that appeal to a broad spectrum of conservatives, not just one element.

WINNING THE PRIMARY

Cagle said of his landslide victory in the primary over a well-financed and better known opponent "I think the...mistake (Ralph Reed) made is he began attacking on my banking involvement and so then he made the choice of making the race about character, about integrity and about ethics. And, when he did that, unfortunately, he had the scandal with (embattled lobbyist Jack) Abramoff...and so that gave us the opportunity to expose that in a way that we really didn't feel like we would be able to.

Abramoff, the once-powerful lobbyist at the center of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison on March 29, after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. Reed has been linked to Abramoff through some Indian casinos Abramoff was working for and some work Reed did for him, and Cagle made an issue of that in the late stages of the race. Reed denies compromising his values for money and says he did not know of the casino connection but that, in hindsight, he probably shouldn't have done the work.

Cagle says the campaign turned nasty when Reed fired the first negative salvo and that he, Cagle, although he didn't like it, had no choice but to defend himself and fire back. But, Cagle is not one of those who says Reed's influence on the state and national political scene is over. "I do feel Ralph is a very, very talented individual and has a great promise. I think that certainly there is a following that he has (and) I think he can begin mending (some) fences. I don't think he's finished by any means."

Reed's candidacy attracted attention from national media. Cagle said that wasn't distracting for his campaign but that exposure was never more evident than when on the campaign trail he was approached by reporters from the likes of Rolling Stone and GQ magazines. Time magazine's July 31 edition has a two-page story on the outcome of the race titled "The Rise and Fall of Ralph Reed." Cagle's name is only mentioned twice in the article.

TERM LIMITS

While he imposed a term limit on himself of 12 years when he ran for the state Senate in 1994, Cagle said he's not in favor of mandatory term limits for state officials in Georgia. There are none except for Governor.

"I've been on both sides of that issue and again, I think the voters are the ones that need to make that decision and the individual (candidate) or elected official."