Posted: Jan. 2, 2004

WHO TO WATCH IN 2004

A new election year puts the focus on Delaware politicians with a lot to prove or else to lose. Keep your eye on . . . 

RUTH ANN MINNER

There was snickering last month when Minner failed to make the "Power 25," Delaware Today magazine's list of the state's most influential people. The first-term Democratic governor was rated a "Power Maybe?" Still, Minner has made a career out of being underrated. She was dismissed as an unpolished downstater when she ran for lieutenant governor in 1992, survived whispers she would be dropped from the 1996 ticket and beat back doubts she was gubernatorial material in 2000. The slights continue even though nearly everyone can recite her history -- a high school dropout, twice widowed, who rose from governor's receptionist to be the state's first woman governor ever and its first downstate executive in a generation. This year she will reach a rare milestone -- 30 years in elected office -- and could become only the eighth governor elected twice. Perhaps she would get her due then, or just do unto others. It is said that if she seemed tough in a first term, wait until she gets a second.

JAMES M. BAKER

Actually, Baker probably would prefer that no one was watching. He seems to be accomplishing something that no Wilmington mayor has done since 1980 -- running for re-election without facing a Democratic primary. In this overwhelmingly Democratic city, it is the primary that makes or breaks mayors. If Baker can get a pass from his fellow fractious Democrats, he can expect the same from the Republicans. Not only does he have powerful friends in the other party, but the Republicans would rather not give the city's Democratic voters a reason to go to the polls in a presidential election year.

SHERRY L. FREEBERY

The Number Two official in New Castle County always seems to be the Number One topic of conversation. No one -- including the county's chief administrative officer herself -- knows whether she will spend the year on the campaign trail for county executive or in the courtroom. It remains to be seen whether anyone can run the county, run for election and run off U.S. Attorney Colm F. Connolly all at the same time. Each alone is a full-time occupation.

KAREN E. PETERSON AND M. JANE BRADY

Peterson, a first-term Democratic state senator, has not decided whether she will run against Minner for governor in a primary, much the way Minner backed Peterson's opponent in a 2002 Senate primary. Brady, a three-term Republican attorney general, has yet to pledge allegiance to William Swain Lee, the retired judge who is her party's front-runner for governor. Both Peterson and Brady are expected to declare their intentions early in the year.

CHRISTOPHER A. COONS AND MATTHEW P. DENN

Coons and Denn are making moves in 2004 to get into the ranks of the Democratic up-and-comers, aiming to join Lt. Gov. John C. Carney Jr. and Treasurer Jack A. Markell as the next generation of aspiring governors, senators and representatives. Coons, the first-term New Castle County Council president, wants to get there by being elected county executive -- which means he may have to get by the formidable Freebery first. Denn, a lawyer who was Gov. Minner's legal counsel, is running for insurance commissioner against three-term Republican Donna Lee Williams. It is not quite now-or-never for Coons and Denn, but it is close.

COLM F. CONNOLLY

If the U.S. attorney delivers up political corruption the way he carved up Thomas J. Capano, then he could be the Republican equivalent of Carney-Markell-Coons-and-Denn all rolled into one, with Beau Biden thrown in, too. Otherwise, a lot of U.S. attorneys go on to nice careers as judges.

CHARLES L. COPELAND AND CHRISTOPHER J. CASTAGNO

This year marks the 10th anniversary since Delaware Republicans elected anyone new to statewide office. The party needs a bench badly, or it will be shut out by the Democrats who already are making their marks. The Republicans made an effort last year to showcase Copeland, a new state senator who is regarded as the first du Pont family member with political potential since Pierre S. du Pont, the ex-governor who is his cousin. The Republicans also are hoping to capitalize on the turmoil in New Castle County to launch Castagno, the New Castle City Council president, for county executive.

MYRON T. STEELE

The betting is that Steele, a Supreme Court justice since 2000, will be the one who takes over the center seat on Delaware's highest court when Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey retires in April. The choice (with Senate confirmation) belongs to Minner, a Kent County Democrat like Steele. Justice Randy J. Holland also is well-regarded for the post, but he is a Republican, and Democratic partisans would be hollering bloody murder if Minner did not give them bragging rights to the top spot in the state judiciary.

JOHN C. ATKINS, GERALD W. HOCKER AND PETER C. SCHWARTZKOPF

Sussex County is expected to be a hotbed of legislative races as the home of these three rookie representatives, all elected in 2002. Atkins, a Republican, won in a district that was expected to go Democratic. Hocker, also a Republican, slipped into the legislature with a 57-vote victory over then-Rep. Shirley A. Price, a Democrat who wants her seat back. Schwartzkopf is the last Democratic representative standing in Sussex County. All three can count on being targeted in 2004.

TERRY R. SPENCE AND WAYNE A. SMITH

Spence and Smith have been watched so long and have yet to boil. A pair of Republican legislators, Spence is the House speaker and Smith is the House majority leader. Their interest in the governorship is well known but unconsummated. Meanwhile, their party lacks a name candidate to take on Carney for lieutenant governor, and it is a shame that neither seems inclined to try that route to the top. Without someone like Spence or Smith as an opponent, Carney is not worth much watching this year.

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