Frohnmayer and his unease with Wyden

I got an excited call the other day from a local Democratic Party official who wanted to tell me that John Frohnmayer was talking up the possibility of running against Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., next year.

Well, it turns out that Frohnmayer - who ran an independent candidacy for several months in the 2008 U.S. Senate race before dropping out - has indeed been talking some with Democrats to gauge whether is any support for such a run. The catalyst, of course, is that Wyden has angered many of those on the left in his party because he's departed from liberal orthodoxy (particularly on the issue of a "public option") on health care reform.

But Frohnmayer, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the brother of retired University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer, told me that he is not planning on running against Wyden.

"I share this dissatisfaction (among many Democrats) with Ron's role in the health care reform fight," Frohnmayer said. But he added that it would be a "tough slog" and that it would take more than unhappiness over Wyden's role on health care to make him vulnerable. And right now, said Frohnmayer, he doesn't see anything else on the horizon that puts the senator in political jeopardy.

While it's not normally news when someone is saying they're not likely to run for office, Frohnmayer's story is kind of interesting.

He grew up in a Republican family, practiced law and was appointed to the arts chairmanship by the first President Bush. Frohnmayer's Washington experience moved him toward the political left and his 2008 candidacy showed he had an interest in seeking elective office himself.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2009/08/frohnmayer_and_his_unease_with.html