Friday, February 08, 2013

What Will Calvin Do?


While many of us HoCo politico watchers have been focusing on Courtney Watson (D) and Allan Kittleman (R) as the presumptive candidates for county executive in 2014, another name has begun to be bantered around. On more than a couple of occasions over the past two months Calvin Ball’s name has also been raised as a possible contender for the seat.

He’d make a formidable foe for Courtney, not to mention Allan. In his latest campaign finance filing Calvin reports having almost $200,000.00 in the bank. Though Courtney has almost twice that amount, it is about the same amount Allan has raised. Notably it is also far more money than his other council colleagues have in their campaign kitties and much more than he’d need for a council seat reelection campaign.

What makes his campaign war chest even more impressive is that, unlike Courtney and Allan, Calvin hasn't been playing the unannounced candidate game. He’s quietly raised this money without giving any solid indication of what his future plans may be.

Over lunch recently he was predictably coy. “I’m considering my options,” he told me. One of those options would presumably be to forgo elective office altogether, preferring instead to pursue tenure at Morgan State where he currently teaches in the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program. 

I just don’t see that option as a serious consideration. Calvin is an extremely well liked council member  He often comes across as the measured voice of reason when the council wades in deep water, smart and cool as a cucumber. I think the bigger challenge for him is deciding which political tack to take. His name has even been mentioned as a possible candidate for lieutenant governor.

On the other hand, becoming county exec would provide a nice springboard for even greater things.

If Calvin does decide to run for exec, you can pretty much count on a Dem primary. I don’t see Courtney backing down from anyone. That is a scenario that Allan would undoubtedly welcome.
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