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Which may make me a distinct minority, given the mad rush of candidates, serious and speculative, who might vie to succeed Gov. Bev Perdue as the Democratic nominee?

Bill Faison, Walter Dalton, Brad Miller, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, Kay Hagan, even Jim Hunt. I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Andy Griffith.

But the most intriguing possibility, if you ask me, may be Erskine Bowles, the former UNC president and Clinton chief of staff who might actually have a chance to bridge the bitter partisan divide in Raleigh.

Remember, Bowles was drafted primarily by Republicans for the UNC post.

And his role on the Bowles-Simpson federal debt reduction commission gives him enormous clout and cachet as fiscally sensible -- even if nobody in Washington had the wisdom or guts to follow the commission's tough but wise advice.
But would Bowles even want a third impossibly tough job after two in a row?

And having lost two senatorial campaigns, does he have the stomach for another?