One of Raleigh's best known political consulting teams is bailing out of politics.
Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer and fellow Republican strategist Mark Stephens plan to seek new ventures after the November election, Fetzer said Tuesday.
"We don't want to do campaigns anymore," said Fetzer. "We're old men and this is a young man's game."
Both men are 53 years old. Fetzer and Stephens are both veterans of a host of Republican campaigns in North Carolina and are currently consultants to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole re-election effort. Fetzer served three terms as Raleigh's mayor in the 1990s.
Stephens was executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which helps orchestrate Republican senate races across the country, during the 2005-2006 election cycle, when Dole was the committee's chair. Republicans lost their majority in the Senate in 2006.
Fetzer and Stephens were consultants to Bill Graham's campaign for governor during the Republican primary, but Graham and the consultants parted ways four months before Graham finished a distant third in the primary.
The two men have not decided whether they will work as a team or go their own ways on future endeavors, Fetzer said.
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Understandable
I can understand how they can be so discouraged trying to sell the GOP brand. That's a dog that just won't hunt, or do much of anything, except drive our country to economic ruin while engulfing us in a quagmire war in Iraq based on lies. I have to agree - if 53 year olds can't hack it, then why should we vote for the 72 year old McCain or the 75 year old Dole?