The (not?) running man
As has been noted elsewhere, Mike Easley sounds like he's running for something.
Now the man says he doesn't have an interest. He's been asked three years in a row about a U.S. Senate run and put the kibosh on that. He's never really jumped up and said, "heck yes," when asked about cabinet level work. I think talk of a VEEP slot may actually make him break out in hives.
But consider this quote from Easley's speech at the Emerging Issues Forum today:
"Essentially, we have two choices," Easley said. "We can work toward energy independence, or we can put the United States of America at risk. We can put our economy in jeopardy, we can be controlled by other countries."
Sounds rather national in it's scope, no?
Click here to listen to yourself.
After his speech, Easley was asked if he was building a case for some kind of national office, Easley deflected the thought:
"No. I think energy is a national issue, it’s an international issue for that matter," Easley said. "Everybody is trying to be as innovative as possible to solve the energy problem in America. But we want to lead in North Carolina."