Amid the rumors that Mark Warner is rethinking his exit from the presidential race, I just got this e-mail from his organization:
Dear Friends,
We wanted to take just a moment out of your busy holiday schedule to wish you and your family a happy holiday season and best wishes for a new year full of hope, health and happiness.
Mark, Lisa, Madison, Gillian and Eliza
Now, you've got to understand something. Mark Warner and I aren't friends. We're acquaintances at best. So this reminder of his existence isn't entirely necessary. That said, for Warner, pulling out and the popping back in may prove a smart move. If he waits till the press corps takes its post-Obama breath, Warner could get a burst of publicity that, as a known and expected quantity, he wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Meanwhile, he got a lot of elite respect around the time of his exit -- apparently, somebody who doesn't really need to be president is the sort of guy you want to be president. I don't really buy that, but it fits into Warner's successful businessman narrative fairly well. I still can't imagine a scenario wherein Warner gets the nomination, but with John Warner apparently running for Senate again, this wouldn't be a bad way for Warner raise his vice-presidential potential and, in the absence of that, get a year or two of free Virginia media.
