Tuesday, November 5, 2002
Updated: November 6, 12:36 PM ET
Gubernatorial races: Largent loses, Romney wins
Associated Press
Steve Largent lost his run to become Oklahoma governor, but Mitt
Romney won the governor's race in Massachusetts in two of the the
most high-profile elections involving prominent sports figures.
Largent, a former congressman and member of the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, was beaten in a close contest in which he was once a
heavy favorite. The 48-year-old Republican lost to 39-year-old
state Sen. Brad Henry, a Democrat.
"We defied all odds,'' Henry told supporters Tuesday night.
In the closest Oklahoma guberatorial race in 32 years, Henry won
by just 6,357 votes.
Largent, a star with the Seattle Seahawks from 1976-89, waited
until Wednesday to concede defeat.
"We were the heavy favorite, and the underdog won,'' he said.
"That happens in life, that happens in athletics and that happened
in politics last night.''
Largent served 3½ terms in Congress. He might have lost key
votes to independent candidate Gary Richardson, but Henry's victory
still was regarded as an upset. He received only 28 percent of the
vote in a five-candidate primary but went on to upset millionaire
businessman Vince Orza in a runoff.
Henry also was aided by some football celebrity, as former
Oklahoma Sooners coach Barry Switzer campaigned at his side.
The candidates were trying to succeed Republican Gov. Frank
Keating, who was barred by term limits from seeking a third term.
Romney drew on his performance as chief organizer of the Salt
Lake City Olympics to defeat Democratic state Treasurer Shannon
O'Brien for Massachusetts governor.
In the House of Representatives, two Republicans with strong
sports pedigrees were easily re-elected.
Jim Ryun, once the world-record holder in the mile, defeated
Democrat Dan Lykins in Kansas, and former Nebraska football coach
Tom Osborne earned more than 90 percent of the vote without even
campaigning on TV or radio. He did not face a Democratic
challenger.
"He can sit in his living room, watch TV and drink beer from
now on ... and still win,'' said Osborne's opponent, Libertarian
Jerry Hickman.
Also, Republican Rick Renzi, captain of the Northern Arizona
football team that won the 1979 Big Sky Conference title, defeated
Democrat George Cordova for a new seat in Arizona.
J.C. Watts, the quarterback who led Oklahoma to two straight
Orange Bowl victories, is leaving his Oklahoma congressional seat.
Ryun is seeking a Republican leadership post held by Watts.
Romney presided over an Olympics that IOC president Jacques
Rogge called a "superb job,'' although it was an event preceded by
a bribery scandal and jolted by a figure skating judging scandal.
Romney, a 55-year-old former venture capitalist, is the son of
former Michigan Gov. George Romney. His only previous political
experience was an unsuccessful 1994 bid to unseat Massachusetts
Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Democrats tried to knock him off the ballot even before his
campaign got going. They contended he didn't meet state residency
requirement because of his time in Utah, but the challenge was
rejected.
"What we've accomplished today and over the last eight months
has been extraordinary,'' Romney said.
In other races:
U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., was re-elected to a third term.
Hill was a starting guard at Furman and an all-state player at
Seymour High in 1971. He's in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Mike Kenn, a former Pro Bowl tackle for the Atlanta Falcons,
was leading in his re-election bid for chairman of the Fulton
County Commission in Georgia.
Joe DeNucci, once a fifth-ranked middleweight boxer, was
elected to a fifth term as Massachusetts state auditor.
Derrick Hord, who played basketball at Kentucky from 1979-83
and was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, lost his bid for a seat
in the Kentucky state Senate.
Alderman George Unseld, a college basketball player at Kansas
in the 1960s and the brother of Hall of Famer Wes Unseld, won
election to the new metro government in Louisville, Ky.
