Jari Askins

(Oklahoma, which leads the nation in female incarceration, needs corrections reform. Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette.)

It’s vitally important that Lt. Gov. Jari Askins becomes Oklahoma’s next governor so she can provide crucial political balance as Republicans retain or increase majorities in the legislature this year.

Askins, who won the Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, is an intelligent, experienced leader, who will serve the state with distinction as its first woman governor.

One of the major tasks facing Askins in her gubernatorial campaign will be to find some type of counter to U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin’s Tea-Party rhetoric and sloganeering.

Political observers expect Fallin, who won the Republican primary, will talk about non-issues like “freedom” and “states rights” in her campaign, rhetoric that is now resonating in one of the reddest states in the nation. It’s low on substance and facts, of course, but some political pundits believe the anti-Obama and anti-government anger in this state could be a major factor in any political campaign this year.

Askins will win against Fallin in debate situations when discussing the real issues, such as jobs, education and economic development. OU former football coach Barry Switzer’s support for Askins could also be important—let’s call it the “Barry Bump” if only because it alliterates. Switzer remains a popular person here. We can hope he plays a major role in the campaign.

But the ideological mush presented by Fallin, and other GOP candidates, for that matter, could become problematic for Askins, not because she’s some uber-liberal—on the contrary, I see her as solidly centrist—but because Republicans here have co-opted the Tea Party’s political reductionism and anger. In Fallin’s case, it’s probably a faux anger, for sure, but that won’t stop her from fear mongering.

The question becomes this: How should Askins respond? If she tries to out-Tea Party Fallin, she will lose support from liberal Democrats, and it would probably fall flat anyway. If she ignores Fallin’s ideological strategy and tries to focus on the issues, she could lose centrist votes as well. How can Askins expose the shallowness of Fallin’s expected political strategy while reassuring angry voters?

One strategy would be to directly address the issue in campaign advertisements, attacking Fallin for a lack substance. The point would be to show Fallin as someone flailing around spouting unsubstantiated cliché’s and rhetoric while the state’s problems persist.

This wouldn’t be a campaign gimmick. Askins IS the serious candidate, the right person for governor. She has the intelligence, energy and people-skills to lead Oklahoma during these tough financial times. This state’s residents need her steady leadership and the political balance she will to bring to the state Capitol.

Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins and Attorney General Drew Edmondson have the qualifications, experience and vision to serve the state as governor.

Both Democratic gubernatorial candidates would bring a more critically needed balance to state government than the announced Republican candidates, U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin and state Sen. Randy Brogdon, who would obviously consolidate and extend the current GOP ascendency in the state.

And the 2010 general election is a long ways off . . .

But given the importance of the governor’s race for Democrats, who are now the minority party in the legislature, there is little room for campaign gaffes that give the GOP an opening to attack and ridicule.

So will “nunya” stick?

Nunya, slang for none of your business, was listed on an Askins’ campaign expense report made available to the public through the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, according to a NewsOK.com report. A recent rule change requires candidates to specifically report expenditures of $1,000 or more with campaign money. The rule went into effect July 1, but candidates had to put something in the expenditure column on their electronic reports to comply with the Ethics Commission software.

For the second quarter, April 1 to June 30, before the new rule went into effect, Askins' campaign listed approximately $30,000 in expenses paid to Nunya, 123 Main Street, Duncan, OK, 73533, according to the news report, which was written by Michael McNutt.

Obviously, the Askins campaign was in compliance with Ethic Commission rules and an Askins spokesperson said the information was an “internal placeholder” never meant to become public, according to the report. This information can be easily corrected on the electronic report. But the word nunya is a sarcastic word, in this context, that sends the wrong signal about openness in campaign funding and government.

Let’s be clear: It is very much everyone’s business how political campaigns are funded and how they spend money. Democrats should be leading the way on this issue.

The NewsOK.com report notes that Fallin and Brogdon reported specific people and businesses on their expenditure reports for the first two quarters of this year, and that Edmondson reported specific expenditures for the second quarter and listed his campaign headquarters for the first quarter.

This is a minor issue, for sure, and, in political parlance, it probably doesn’t have legs, but there is little room for error in such an important race. A Republican governor, along with a Republican legislative majority, could validate GOP extremists, such as state Rep. Sally Kern.

Democrats should demand their candidates take campaign contribution and expenditure reports seriously. No more inside jokes about the money. It drags all Democrats down, and that’s unfortunate.

(Gov. Brad Henry is an outstanding centrist governor in an extremely conservative state. Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette. Be sure to check out Brandon Dutcher's companion article, which calls Henry a "lefty.")

Oklahoma Democrats now have two excellent candidates for governor in 2010.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson announced his bid for governor Wednesday. He will face fellow Democrat Lt. Gov. Jari Askins in the primary. Both candidates have name recognition and a loyal following. Both candidates would be great Oklahoma governors.

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep Mary Fallin and state Sen. Randy Brogdon have announced their candidacies for governor.

At this point, the Democrats face these two issues:

(1) Could a contentious primary election weaken the winning candidate, who will likely face Mary Fallin in the general election? Will Edmondson and Askins have to spend more money than Fallin in the primary election and thus be at a financial disadvantage? Will Democratic supporters fracture and lose energy for the general election? Edmondson and Askins, in debates and in their campaign rhetoric, need to commit early to the idea that the losing candidate will unequivocally throw his/her support to the winning Democrat.

(2) Who will run best against Fallin? This is a difficult question to answer at this point. Edmondson has probably made more political enemies than Askins in his career just because of the nature of his job as attorney general. In political parlance, it means he probably has more “negatives” than Askins. But he also has widespread name recognition, and he comes from a well-known Oklahoma family. There’s no question he will be able to raise the campaign money to challenge Fallin, who will be heavily funded in the general election. Askins has few negatives, but doesn’t have the same long-term name recognition as Edmondson. Can she raise as much money as Edmondson? That might be the main question. As of May 1, Edmondson had $472,774 in campaign money on hand compared to Askins’s $90,052. Another important question is this: Will fellow Democrat Gov. Brad Henry support one of the candidates in the primary or stay neutral?

The governor’s race in 2010 is vitally important for Democrats. Republicans now hold majorities in the Oklahoma House and Senate. Gov. Brad Henry has been able to check the right-wing agenda through his veto pen and bipartisan approach to governing. If Fallin becomes the next governor and Republicans maintain their majority status, then Oklahoma will tilt even further right. This could isolate the state even further from the current national political dynamic.