Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority. - William Jennings Bryan

Friday, April 14, 2006

Getting Defensive Over Warner, Are We?

On April 10th, former Governor Mark Warner made a trip to Bristol, Tennessee, to campaign for Congressman Harold Ford, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

At a campaign event at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Warner said, "Being here for Harold Ford Jr. was a no-brainer. He is a choice between partisan politics and shaking things up a bit. He is the bolder choice," and that, "Five or six years ago, when I asked for the votes of the people of Southwest Virginia, I said I wouldn't forget this part of the state. I believe I honored that."

Apparently, it was fairly successful, since the Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, Bob Davis, made it a point of taking a potshot at Ford and Warner. He said, "People in Tennessee don't care what a former Virginia governor, who is known for raising taxes, has to say in Tennessee. Mark Warner doesn't vote here and most importantly does not share our Tennessee values. An endorsement by Mark Warner means nothing other than Harold Ford must agree with his tax-and-spend agenda."

Wow, defensive.

My first question would be if a little-known Democrat Congressman from, say, Kentucky, came across the border to campaign for Ford, would the GOP Chair go out of his way to respond to him? No. The plain and simple fact is that Mark Warner is a Democrat celebrity (who can win Tennessee in 2008), and he really rallies the party faithful. I assume he sells as well in Northeast Tennessee as he does here in Southwest Virginia. You can see the full article here.

While the Tennessee Republicans are seperating into three distinct camps, Ed Bryant for Senate (Standard Republicans), Van Hilleary for Senate (Far-right evangelicals), and Bob Corker for Senate (Moderate Republicans), Harold Ford is forging ahead with a unified Democratic Party behind him.

The GOP primary has got increasingly negative. Ed Bryant is taking potshots at Corker ("Bob Corker Fraud Watch: Day 56"), Van Hilleary says Corker is a liberal ("Top Ten Reasons Why Bob Corker Should File To Run For Senate as A Democrat"), and Corker, well, he's playing nice (and not making any ground).

It'll be a very difficult race for Harold Ford to win, but he can do it. He'll be a great addition to our (soon-to-be) Senate majority!

-Neal

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Tax and Spend" is the clarion call of cowards.

Any time you hear anyone libling a legislature with that smear you can be sure they are hellbent and determined to leave roads decaying, leave children ignorant, and leave the super-wealthy an extra million for their trust fund loitering kids.