The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Since we are one month away from filing period and nobody really knows exactly who is running...I think we should try and set some odds.

Here is my thoughts so far...

I think the republican race will have three serious contenders with Councilors Christiansen and Westcott running with local businessman Howard Barnett. At this point (with no visible campaigning yet) I would put Barnett in the lead because he ain't on the council, has statewide contacts for fundraising, and a long history of republican work that matters in primaries. Christiansen can probably raise more money than Westcott because he represents a wealthier district and the latter has had some negative stories in the news recently.

I think State Senator Tom Adelson is probably the favorite in the democratic race. He has proven fund-raising ability and is well-liked in midtown. I know a lot of democrats want him to run and if he agrees in the next week or so, will probably chase off some other potential candidates.

I don't give many of the other candidates much chance, but there are plenty of people being quiet.

Tulsa voters are way more registered republican than democrat, so the winner of the republican primary will probably be the favorite to win in November.

I seem to remember Barnett as being very close to the Tulsa World. Actually, wasn't he one of their lawyers?

I don't think City Councilor Rick Westcott will run.  I don't think Howard Barnett will run.  I think Dewey Bartlett and City Councilor Bill Christiansen will be running for sure (unless one can talk the other one down).  I also believe County Commissioner John Smaligo and former City Councilor Chris Medlock are looking at the race.  I also forgot that DJ Clay Clark has already entered the race.  It is hard to handicap the race when I don't know who's in or out.   

 

RM, you think HB will run? Your predictions are reasonable but Adleson needs to finish off Sully. Tom is much more suited for congress and the office of mayor needs a more reasonable team than a Susan Savage do over.

Thought we'd hear Jono's name by now. But he's another good person with no desire to get torn and frayed.

The oligarch's are talking up RM's picks. Devil sez follow RM's direction to a point. Remember Hillary?

Actually, the Tribune.

Here is his resume when he was nominated to the Tulsa Hall of Fame...

Born in Kansas City, MO, Howard G. Barnett was immediately adopted by Florence Lloyd Jones Barnett and Howard G. Barnett. They brought him to Tulsa which has been his home ever since. He graduated from Edison High School and received his B.S.B.A. from the University of Tulsa and a Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University.

Barnett began his career in 1975 as a business lawyer in Tulsa specializing in securities offerings and corporate transactions primarily for the growing number of entrepreneurial oil and gas companies. In 1985, he joined Tribune Swab-Fox Companies Inc. as executive vice president and COO of its daily newspaper subsidiary, Tulsa Tribune Company. He eventually became chairman and CEO of the parent company, leading a significant turnaround resulting in its sale to V,S & A Media Partners II in 1997.

Barnett entered state government in 1998 as secretary of commerce for Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and as the director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. In 1999, he became Governor Keating's chief of staff serving until the end of Keating's term in January 2003. He is now managing director of TSF Capital, LLC in Tulsa, a firm providing specialized merchant banking services to small companies. Barnett's civic activities include the Tulsa Metro Chamber, Leadership Oklahoma, Holland Hall School, Tulsa Industrial Authority, and Hillcrest Hospital. He was a member of the Governor's Council on Science and Technology and Tulsa's Centennial Celebration Committee.

He is currently a board member of the Philbrook Museum of Art, Leadership Oklahoma, The Center for Nonprofits, Youth Services of Tulsa, the Oklahoma City National Memorial and the Oklahoma Academy. In 2006, Barnett was the Republican nominee for state treasurer of Oklahoma.
 

Smaligo lives in Owasso.  Makes running for mayor in Tulsa a little difficult.

Triple D - Doug Dodd, Democrat. And perhaps Dr. Adelson, too.

Republicans - Bill Christiansen, Bob Sullivan, Jim Williamson.

There's gotta be a way around that if BAM got to be prez without a birth certificate. Right Conan, Guido, No Knothing?

Wow. Adopted? That explains his grandpa Munster relationship, perhaps.

I agree with your assessment of Tommy, I think he could do well in DC, I'd support him.  I'd like to see him run for Congress or Senate, not mayor.  He's just as much a Tulsa homeboy as Sully, pretty hard for the Sullivan slime machine to tear him down.

I'd be really surprised if Christiansen wanted to be mayor, he's got another business to run, unless his son is in charge of everything now.  What ever happened to the speculation of Eagleton running?

I beg your pardon.  Residency issues didn't stop ya know who.  Adelson for D1 Congress?  Inspired.  For Mayor?  Not so much.

Pimp it Paul!!

Campaign naked

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Clark Clay fo' Mayor!!!!!!!  All da way, baby!!!  Good grief.  After 12 years of the respectability of the "electables" such as Savage Sue, 4 years of Big Bad Bill MisFortune, and Kaylor, HOW can it POSSIBLY get ANY worse?  If Bates and Medlock would have just SHUT up in 2006 about Big Bad Billl, ya think they might have some credibility left?  Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

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Yeah. I think I'm going to go ahead and pass...

"How could it get any worse?" 

Perhaps it's just me, but I don't think that's a great campaign slogan.

INSPIRED campaign slogan!  Somehow, it WILL be used as such.

Here's another potential job for Jay Matlock.  Keep running and eventually you might win something.

I wonder if Lawrence Kirkpatrick and Virginia Jenner are still kicking around?

If just about any village idiot can run for public office, what does that say about your PRECIOUS Great American Democracy?

If only the "respectable electables" get their messages heard and eventually get elected, only to fail MISERABLY, what does that say about the Great American Democracy?

And, if normally very smart pundits, such as Bates and Medlock, blow their credibility by not endorsing the Incredible Faulk, and pansying to Big Bad Bill, who later admitted he simply blew smoke in their faces, what does that say about your PRECIOUS American Democracy?

Mudschlock is was not a smart pundit.

My bad.  He's a narcisisitic blowhard, who still thinks he's someone important, when all we are doing is laughing behind his back.