Begich is frank that he pines for his old job — “Do I miss it all? Absolutely,” he said — even as he insists he’s moved past the bitter feud he endured for months with Murkowski in the heat of last year’s race. It’s uncertain whether Murkowski has similarly moved on. “I’m not really interested in talking about this,” Murkowski said when asked whether she had buried the hatchet with Begich.
Ex-senators make for appealing potential recruits. They’re established figures with generally solid name identification, typically have a network of donors and have been through the rigors of a high-stakes campaign. Yet they also can be perceived as old news and carry baggage from the past. And the question inevitably arises: If they couldn’t win as an incumbent, what makes them think they ca as a challenger?
For Begich, that would also mean quickly raising money — his campaign account is virtually empty — and also abandoning a career he’s building in the private sector.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, thinks the chances are “pretty slim” that Begich will run.
“I like what I’m doing, but I don’t know what the future is going to hold,” said Begich, who won his only term in 2008 by unseating the late Ted Stevens, a titan of Alaska politics who was ensnared by corruption charges. “I think people who want to try to figure out, ‘What is his next political plan?’ That would be a mistake.”
See Full Story at POLITICO
