Former coach Holtz mulls run for Congress in Fla.

WTHR website ^ | Aug. 4, 2008

[Kimmers]

Orlando, Fla. - Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz is mulling a run for Congress in Florida as a Republican, a GOP strategist said Tuesday.

Holtz could decide in the next several weeks whether to seek the central Florida congressional seat held by Democrat U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, said the strategist who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to talk about the matter.

The 72-year-old Holtz has never run for office. He has worked as an analyst at ESPN since retiring from his last coaching stint at the University of South Carolina at the end of the 2004 season.

Holtz is the only coach to guide six schools to a bowl game, and he led Notre Dame to its last national championship in 1988. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame last year.

A call to Holtz's home in Orlando was not returned Tuesday night.

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz wouldn't go into the specifics of Holtz's contract and how a run for public office would affect his work.

"Each situation is different and it's pretty much speculative at this point what it would mean, but he tells us that he is committed to ESPN," Krulewitz said.

Republican leaders in central Florida were surprised that Holtz was considering a run for the seat since he hasn't been involved with the local party, said Lew Oliver, chairman of the Orange County Republican Executive Committee in Orlando.

"I doubt sincerely that 90 percent of the people who live in that district have heard the name before," Oliver said. "It would be different if the guy was named Bob Griese or Don Shula, or someone with Florida connections."

Three other Republicans - two state legislators and a local city commissioner - already plan to run for the GOP nomination.

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

[Terpfen]

I prefer to run conservatives who are young enough that they’ll be in office for a long time.

Lou Holtz does not fit that description. In central Florida, the GOP can do better.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

But how will Granny Clampet keep the people out of the cement pond?

We need more politicians who fascinate us with the same rousing stories about Art Linkletter, again and again in the same speech.

[Boiling Pots]

Part of the problem is that too many Congressmen have been in Congress for a “long time.”

Congress should be a voluntary, un-paid, part-time position, meeting for 6-8 weeks out of the year. Serve one or two terms, then give someone else a chance.

[Terpfen]

The problem is that liberals have been in and have run Congress for a long time.

I see no reason why a local GOP party should spend resources finding and running a true conservative for the House, only to have to do it all over again a few years later. The goal should be not only to find conservatives to win office, but to keep that seat for as long as possible. That said, Congress meeting for no more than 6 weeks sounds good to me.

Now, the specific trouble with Lou Holtz is that he’s 72 years old and wants to run in a red area. Because it’s a red area, star power isn’t necessary to win the election, and it means that someone else who could be ready to run for that seat has to wait until Holtz gets bored and retires. If you give me a choice between a young guy and an old guy, I’m going to go with the young guy, just because he can be in there longer.

[VeniVidiVici]

I’m in Seminole too and didn’t know until Democrat Suzanne Kosmas got elected that my district was so gerrymandered that it includes parts of Daytona Beach down to Titusville over to Seminole south over towards I-4!!

Want to see something funny? Check out the Democrat Suzanne Kosmas Facebook page when you have a chance - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Congresswoman-Suzanne-Kosmas/83881648305#

Tell me what you see *missing* from there.