Lance Armstrong For Governor? Senator?

Over the weekend, major media outlets across Texas were littered with stories about Lance Armstrong’s political potential.

Of course, the media proclaims to have no clue about Armstrong’s political party affiliation. Evidently, nobody in the MSM realizes they can just call the elections office of the county in which Armstrong is registered to vote and simply ask them to fax his voting history, which would show if he’d voted in a primary election.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d like to see Lance Armstrong run for Governor or U.S. Senate about as much as I’d like to see the Olsen Twins make another direct-to-video movie. In other words, he’s nowhere in my top 100 list of future Texas political candidates–from either party.

It’s not that he’s not a hero to millions or an instant vote-getter–I’m sure those things are true.

The reason I don’t want to see Lance Armstrong run for office is because he has no experience doing anything except being a sports figure and with his recent proposition campaign.

All too often, the media puts emphasis on figures like Armstrong because they adopt a single-issue, end up waging a public campaign for it like Armstrong did for cancer research, and being successful. That, however, doesn’t make someone ready to assume the mantle of public office–at least not at the high levels like U.S. Senate or Texas Governor.

Personally, I’d say that if Lance Armstrong did want to run for one of those offices, given his previous background (save the campaign this fall) is totally unrelated to government in general, he should start small. Perhaps a run for Austin City Council, Mayor of Austin, or even State Representative would be more suited, and would give him the kind of political credibility he needs to run for something like Governor or Senator. With very few exceptions, Texas’ greatest governors and senators have all had some type of government experience before they sought–and won–those offices. LBJ, Ann Richards, and Lloyd Bentsen all had experience in lower-levels of government before running for big jobs. Although the idea of an athlete or movie star with worldwide name recognition running for office wasn’t exactly as likely as it is these days, voters then and now prefer someone with experience when it comes to the state’s top jobs.

So (provided Mr. Armstrong is, of course, a Democrat), I’d like to see him wage a State Representative campaign, provided he lives in a district now held by a Republican, and serve a couple of terms in the legislature. Once he’s paid his dues and proven himself, then we can talk about Governor or Senator or whatever. But, with the complex problems facing our nation and state today, we need leaders with a tad more government experience than Mr. Armstrong. Winning the Tour De France is a nice accomplishment (even seven times over), but it’s not really going to help when it comes to making public policy.

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