The Official John Sharp Name-drop for 2010

» Chron: Friends say Sharp is weighing U.S. Senate run (Clay Robison)

Given the number of people chattering about this for the past few months, it's somewhat surprising that Clay couldn't get a source on the record. I guess for now, "some fellow Democrats" will have to suffice.

I wasn't ecstatic over John Sharp's name being floated in 2006 and I'm only lukewarm here until I see a more solidified list of potential candidates. Mind you, that comes from one who qualifies as something of a "John Sharp Democrat." The nature of the electorate has changed from his 1998 run and I'd probably want to see how Sharp views himself fitting into a base that is increasingly more suburban-oriented than rural-oriented in terms of where swing votes are fished for.

If one were to look at certain areas around the state and compare 1998-Sharp, 2002-Sharp, and 2006-Moody numbers, I think this is pretty clear to see. Sharp does very well in appealing to rural swing voters. But they're a declining pool. Sharp did just average in suburban areas and Moody's 2006 numbers were better that Sharp's 2002 numbers in most of those areas. This isn't to say that Sharp cannot make a relevant case in this environment, but it should underscore how things have changed from the days when John Sharp knew how to get elected.

And of course, there's always the fact that Sharp is now eying a hard-money race after existing solely in the unlimited environment of state-level races. Sharp will have some help in this regard, but the $10M he's used to raising in state will turn into something like $4-5M and it's yet to be proven that the DSCC folks are so high on Texas that they'll be able to make up the difference for him outside of the state.