Swimming in the Candidate Pool: CRNC Elections excerpt

This is taken verbatim from the much longer post below.
Next on the list of candidate pools is the June 2007 election for CRNC Chairman. Everyone knows who I like here, but who knows if he will run. This election has only about 60 or so possible candidates, as to my knowledge, only members of the CRNC Executive Board or State Fed. Chairmen/Natl. Committeemen can run. Until he states otherwise, one has to assume that current Chairman H. Paul Gourley will be gunning for re-election. It has been widely reported that CRNC Treasurer Tom Robins of Utah will not be running (obviously not if Gourley runs again), but I am still not sold on this one.
Colorado's Charlie Smith has been attempting to woo supporters for months now, but apparently is having trouble on this front. Same goes for Washington's Brent Ludeman, who has come under much fire on other blogs for failing to come through on promises made in his successful campaign for Western Caucus Chairman. Evidently, Illinois' John Donnelly is being floated around as well, with a recent YouTube video making waves. Kentucky's Hugh Derek Hall should be coming back into play after successfully managing a Congressional race this fall (one of the few!), and he was talked about quite a bit last spring. He didn't keep his spot as National Committeeman for nothing, after all. The kid is very likable, and damn impressive to be sure. The jury is out on Michigan's Dan Carlson as well, who is getting pub (good and a lot of bad) with regards to the proposed CRNC amendments.
If we are going by the states who experienced success last week, there are really only two or three, and only two that have been mentioned as Chairman candidates. California's Mason Harrison was obviously a winner due to Arnold's landslide (bad term for California, I admit) re-election. This is not Mason's only upside, but there are certainly some who would not vote for another kid from Cali (though I am not quite sure why). Tennessee saw Bob Corker keep hold of Frist's Senate seat, but Lindsay Moffett is probably not going to be Chairman. Maine's Nate Walton is one to watch, as he apparently had quite a bit to do with gains made in their State Senate. I don't see him running if Gourley or Robins are in the race, but he would definitely make a ticket.
Others who have been mentioned are Nevada's George Higgins (reportedly is waiting to be asked; he will probably be waiting for awhile, not that that makes him a bad candidate), New Mexico's Scott Darnell (probably not happening), Virginia's outgoing Andrew Lamar, and Nebraska's Scott Strain. Pennsylvania's Nick Miccarelli is always a name bantered about, but I don't see that one as much as a few months back, even though he has garnered much media attention outside of CRs.
As both sides fight it out to see who is going to be 'their guy', most of these names are going to have to settle (or be bought off with) lower ticket spots. This would be a good place to put some of the Chairs who have been around since my high-school days, the careerists, and the just plain power-hungry (only because you cannot just throw them off of a cliff). It is going to be interesting indeed to see how this shakes out. Some chairs just have their own state (or themselves) talking them up, others are being slandered and castigated on blogs because of a perception that they may run, and others are sitting around waiting for someone to ask them to the proverbial dance. The December Board Meeting looms ahead, and there will be no shortage of politicking in Denver.