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Point well taken on Decker -- although I'd hate to be his campaign chair this next go-around!

Vernon: can't tell you about the whole history -- he's mostly been a county alderman and I can't get all of his returns. As I say, he ran a lousy campaign in a black district for state house last time out, but they were going DEM if he walked on water. Note that I'm not entirely comfortable with him since I get the impression that This Is All About Vernon and this "Next JC Watts" or "Black Jesse Helms" thing. He'd better settle down or that won't wash.

All that notwithstanding, the one who sells her/himself better is the one who wins. Everybody knows Vernon is running -- can't say that about Powell yet.

Come again? Lousy campaign? Vernon got 45% of the vote in an apartheid district (that btw the Dems surgically drew him into when he had already filed for the state house in a neighboring, safe GOP district with no incumbent). Elizabeth Dole got 30% of the vote in that same house district. Allow me to put it another way. No other GOP candidate for the state house ran AHEAD of Dole by 15 points in 2002. In fact, Vernon got 70% of the white vote and 20% of the black vote. Imagine if every Repubican ran a "lousy" campaign with those results. If you don't like Vernon for some reason, that's fine. By all means say so. But don't make things up in an effort to belittle him.