When I saw reports last week that Rep. John Linder had announced his retirement that listed Ralph Reed as among those who might be potentially considering running to fill his seat, I dismissed them as fundamentally absurd.
And, of course, every time I do that, I turn out to be wrong, as David Brody reports:
Sources close to Ralph Reed tell The Brody File that the former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition is “seriously” considering running for Congress in Georgia. According to one well-placed source, Reed has talked to key grassroots leaders and local elected officials in Gwinnett county and other parts of the district, but has not made a decision yet.
18 year veteran Congressman Rep. John Linder announced over the weekend that he’s retiring. This seat is in a big time Republican district in the Atlanta suburbs. Reed would be positioned well.
It’ll be interesting to see what Reed does. His grassroots Faith and Freedom Coalition is taking off but it’s kind of hard to pass up this opportunity considering openings like this don’t happen often.
Back in 2006, Reed lost his bid to win the GOP primary for Lieutenant Governor thanks to his deep ties to Jack Abramoff’s corruption [PDF]. But apparently, he’s convinced himself that voters have either forgotten about that or forgiven him for it … at least enough “seriously” consider making another run for public office.
