Colin Bonini, Gunn grad and 7-term office holder in Delaware, near Philadelphia

I tried to place this comment on a news site, but could not:

I am not on Facebook, I am a refuse-nik, so was not actually able to post this:

I think Colin Bonini has a core value system about America and Democracy that, in this day and age, could appeal to both sides of the aisle. I am biased, as his former basketball teammate, in 1980, in Palo Alto, California, the Gunn high Titans. He once swatted Jim Harbaugh (the future famous football coach, but a 3-sport star crosstown) on three consecutive plays.

The rest of the story, and I got this second-hand from his brother Judge Griffin Bonini last Christmas season, is that Harbaugh scored on the fourth attempt. I also appreciate that the Boninis would drive an hour to train with our former coach Hans Delannoy after he relocated to San Ramon Valley of Danville.

I like Bonini head to head, in politics or hoops, over Beau Biden, just for the fresh perspective and non-nepotism. Wonder if this will reach the radar of national pundits by way of Palo Alto, Jim Newton (ex-LA Times editorial page) and George Packer (The New Yorker, “The Unwinding” — which features the Biden)

from Jonathan Starkey, of the News Journal, a Gannett paper:
Delaware needs fixing. We face some significant systemic and fundamental problems. We need a more effective state government.”

Democratic Gov. Jack Markell is term-limited and will leave office in January 2017.

Bonini has been considering a campaign for months and only discussed his plans after winning re-election for a seventh time on Tuesday. He collected more than 74 percent of the vote against an Independent Party challenger.

The Republican has served in the state Senate for two decades, and he has experience campaigning statewide. In 2010, Bonini lost by just two percentage points to Democrat Chip Flowers in a race for state treasurer.

“I realize that I’ll definitely be the underdog, but I think that Delaware has some significant issues to resolve,” Bonini said of a governor’s race, referencing an imposing voter registration disadvantage facing the GOP.

and1: Delaware is the fifth-smallest state in population and second smallest in land; it has less than a million people, so is almost like running for Mayor of San Jose or being a Santa Clara County Supervisor.

edit to add: Beau Biden, son the the vice president, was fighting brain cancer and his obituary appears in May 30, 2015 New York Times.