Sink for Senate? Or governor?

Democrats in Florida are hoping to maintain some momentum in 2010 following Barack Obama's big win, and they're looking right at Sen. Mel Martinez.

With Dems already branding Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez a top target for 2010, much speculation has focused on Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink as a potential Democratic challenger. Sink is also a hot commodity in the 2010 gubernatorial speculation market. Sink, for the record, says she's focusing on her job and not commenting on 2010 rumors.

If Sink doesn't run for Senate, U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, will be among those attracting speculation. One of the most prodigious money-raisers in Congress, Klein has about $1.7 million left over in his campaign account. Klein says he's too busy dealing with the nation's financial meltdown and national catastrophe insurance to think about 2010.

Okay, first of all, let's be realistic here: Democrats in Florida have no momentum. Not really. Yeah, we went blue for president, but that was about the extent of the excitement. Democrats had a net gain of one -- count it, one -- congressional seat, and the Legislature remains deep red. And as far as ballot initiatives, one need only look at the atrocious Amendment 2, the constitutional ban on all non-one-man-one-woman unions, to see that Florida has far to go to consider itself even on the on-ramp to the progressive road.

But, let's fast-forward a couple of years. If President Obama is successful at restoring economic health in America (and, presumably, in Florida by association) and the Iraq War is over or nearly so, the Democrats might be able to make some gains in the mid-term elections. Besides, we have to have someone to run against Martinez, as well as against incumbent governor Charlie Crist who, despite being a Republican (or maybe because of it), remains highly popular. Martinez clearly is the easier target of the two, and Alex Sink is the Democrats' strongest statewide candidate at this point; she and Sen. Bill Nelson are the only Democrats presently holding statewide office.

As much as I like Ron Klein, though, I believe he would be a poor statewide candidate (as would his congressional colleagues Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Robert Wexler). Floridians outside of south Florida tend to distrust those from this area (the exception being Miamians like Jeb! Bush, Bob Graham, and Claude Pepper), and even though Klein is a prodigious fundraiser, I don't think he has the pedigree nor the experience to succeed in a statewide race.

So, for my money, Alex Sink should step up and take on Mel Martinez in 2010. Florida was a pioneer in sending a woman to the Senate (Paula Hawkins, elected in 1980). It's time for another one, but this time a Democrat. As for the gubernatorial race, it's going to be frankly tough to beat Charlie ... so let's not sacrifice a successful member of Congress for the cause.