Goodman bows out of politics early

He still has 15 months left in the Las Vegas Mayor’s Office, but Oscar Goodman effectively bowed out of politics Monday when he announced he wouldn’t run for governor.

Someone he respects should encourage him to run for lieutenant governor. He’d be a natural and would reinvent the office much as he
did the mayor’s job.

By not jumping into the race, he can spend the next year and change working on his pet redevelopment projects and hanging with wife,
Carolyn, four children and six grandchildren.

But he also should work to remain out of the spotlight for the remainder of 2010. Goodman has a tendency to gobble up air time and
newsprint that, this year, would be better devoted to the actual candidates.

Here are a few quotes from his press conference Monday.

“I love Las Vegas,” he said. “This is my town. I love the people of Las Vegas. They’re my people. They’ve been wonderful to me. They’ve treated me like a king, like a rock star, and have been tremendously supportive almost to a person.”

Did he think he could win?

“Every bit of empirical data that I reviewed indicated that I would have been very competitive,” he said.

What would he do about the sorry state of Nevada’s economy?

He said, “I don’t have an answer for it, I’ll tell you that. And unfortunately I haven’t heard an answer for it. Whoever’s running had better have an answer for it.”