Opinion: Lou Dobbs seems to be not running for everything yet

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Back in January Lou Dobbs, the pudgy, grumpy CNN personality who’s really totally against people entering America illegally, in case you hadn’t heard, was not running for president as an independent.

We know that because he had no comment when the rumors started to spread, including on a website by his fans. And anyway, the anti-immigrant thing didn’t work too well for Tom Tancredo.

Now it seems Big Lou is not running for governor of New Jersey yet.

Business Week has an article that raises the possibility of a gubernatorial bid (we love that word, ‘gubernatorial’). And Lou’s office has dutifully said, ‘No comment.’ Which prompts the question, ‘Never?’

And then when Lou or his secretary says something like, ‘You can never say never,’ we’re off to the rumor races. It’s part of the fun of writing about politics. If they say, ‘Never,’ you’ve got them forever. If they don’t, you’re free to speculate endlessly, which is often what they really want anyway.

The 62-year-old Dobbs lives on a 300-acre Sussex County farm in rural northwestern New Jersey; yes, there are still some of those places in the Garden State. The Sopranos have to have somewhere to dump the whacked.

Jon Corzine, the gazillionaire who bought the governor’s office with his lavish spending in the last election, plus he also got the most votes, says he intends to run again. So that’s good news for billboard companies, and New York and Pennsylvania TV stations that broadcast ads into New Jersey.

But remember, Corzine is the elected Democrat who doesn’t wear a seatbelt at 91 mph on the way to an important meeting with Don Imus. So you don’t really know how long Corzine might last.

But because Lou isn’t saying anything, lots of other people are offering suggestions that he register as a Republican -- he sort of sounds like one. And get out there and talk to voters. A novel idea for even a non-candidate. But so far, nothing.

The next office Lou will have no comment about running for but never say never is likely senator from New Jersey. Like most states, New Jersey has two of them, a senior senator and a junior one. That’s because usually one of them is under indictment or about to be. So they always need a spare.

Not running for office is great publicity for Dobbs’ CNN show. Who knows, when you tune in for the afternoon rant, you might be watching a future president/governor/senator right before your very eyes.

Neil Cavuto over at Fox should also not run for some office. We’ve been meaning to get a ‘No comment’ and ‘never say never’ from him. Make a real competition out of this thing.

In fact, here at The Ticket we’ve seriously considered issuing a ‘No comment’ to unreported reports that we might run for office. Jack up our business because, you know, you can never say never.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo Credit: Associated Press

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