Mediocre as a POLITICIAN perhaps-- which if we were to be logical ought to earn him sainthood at Mudcat-- but he was a damn good bureaucrat who did a good job for his state long before it was fashionable to have Black elected state officials. That's what he is drawing on now-- the fact that people in his state KNOW that he has been there for them, in the trenches, at various levels of gummint and that more than anything, they can look to him to DO HIS JOB and stay out of the line of fire.

~S~