Truth be told, I’d rather see Commissioner Williams as Governor, but we definitely have a decided lack of leadership in the Senate.
He would be a 100x improvement over the current governor.
Out of all the elected state offices, seems to me that it would be pretty unusual to go from state railroad commissioner to U.S. Senator, though I've seen stranger (like the IL Dems using "Recorder of Deeds" as a springboard to U.S. Senate and Secretary of State). Maybe Williams can use the U.S. Senate position to do some good things in the next six years and then run for Governor.
I can't believe Governor Good Hair is still there in 2009. When Bush first stepped down in 2000 and Perry took the reigns, I figured he'd be a seat warmer and hold the job for 2 years or so.
Disagree on appointing Williams to the seat prematurely. Voters tend to dislike that, having an unelected Senator representing them could cause a backlash when the seat is up for re-election.