As talk swirls around state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte's possible run for governor on the Democratic side in 2010... I'm curious who else will fill the Democrat's bench. They seem to have the opposite problem as the GOP, which has a glut of statewides wanting to move up, but without a place to move.

Austin state senator Kirk Watson has run statewide before, in 2002 for attorney general. The entire Democratic ticket took a thumping that year, as did Democrats nationwide. Since emerging as a talented senator in only his first term, some folks around the capitol have been wondering what Watson will do next. On Friday, Watson said he's not focused on running for higher office.

"I'm as focused as much as humanly possible on this lege session. I love being a state sen. I love representing Austin and Travis County. It's a great opportunity and I want to be a good senator, so what I'm going to is I'm not going to worry about anything down the road, I'm gonna focus on what I'm doing today."

As we were reminded on Meet the Press today, then-Senator Obama said something similar when he was asked a few years ago whether he'd run for president.

So the door's not open, but it's not closed. Watson said later that there's no reason to worry about the Democrats in 2010 so early.

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