Tom Byrne is not sitting on a $1 million campaign account for nothing

DENVER – There are surely other father and son duos here in Denver, but perhaps none as recognizable as former Governor Brendan Byrne and his son Tom.

And Tom Byrne, the former Democratic State Chairman who currently works as a financial advisor, admits that having another Governor Byrne in the future is a possibility, though perhaps vague and distant.

Like U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and State Sen. Stephen Sweeney, Byrne admits that he would weigh running for Governor in the unlikely event that Gov. Corzine was offered and accepted a position in an Obama administration.

Byrne said he’s interested, but warned not to read into it too much.

“I think probably every third person in here is [interested],” he said.

Whatever happens in the future, Byrne affirmed that he wants to run for public office some day – be it the governorship or a senate seat – and he has held on a big war chest from a 2000 exploratory senate run to prove it. It's a matter of striking when the time is right.

Byrne considered a primary run against incumbent Frank Lautenberg earlier this year, going as far to commission a poll before deciding not to run and throwing his support behind Lautenberg.

“I’m in a position that if there’s an opening that seems appropriate, I’m going to go do it. I think, given my financial background, that could come in handy some day,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. To me, the clearest statement, which I don’t think I need to make overtly, is that I kept a million bucks in a campaign account. That should say something.”