King for Mayor ... in 2009?

HoustonChronicle.com - Bill King making plans for Houston

OK, I haven't bothered carving out a Politics 2009 category for the blog, and I'm going to make a call right here and now that it won't happen till at least 2007. But unbeknownst to me, while Hillary's "insiders" are telling British journalists that Hillary might drop out from a race she hasn's announce for yet, we have this case of Bill King telling Kristen Mack flat-out that he's likely to run for mayor in 2009.

He's got Ellis saying nice things about him. He's got a little bit of cred on both sides of the aisle. He's doing a bit of work for the Fire Fighters Foundation. Meanwhile, I'm not even sure I've got a short list of potentials for Houston Mayor in a post-Bill White era.

City Council has generally proven to be a horrible training ground for the gig. But I don't think anyone would be shocked to see Michael Berry give it another go. I've always been a bit partial to seeing Adrian Garcia become the city's first Hispanic mayor. But who had early money on Bill White back in 2003? ... other than Bill White? For that reason, I'll wait patiently till 2008 arrives before I get too invested in any decision.