TN-SEN: Return of the Bredi

[KingSweden]

TNvolunteer, who would be the favorite to win this senate seat? Jaslam? Blackburn?

Haslam would be the favorite.

Haslam's popularity among the Republican base has been steadily declining- I'm not sure he would even be a shoo-in in a low-turnout GOP primary.  Of course, the state at large would love a Senator Haslam, but I could see someone like Blackburn or Green making a primary interesting should they run.  My understanding is that Corker is highly likely to ultimately decide to run, still.

I'd assume it'd be his last term if he did, yes? TN Senators almost never serve more than 18 years

[KingSweden]

If Corker retires, the first campaign video from a Dem I want to hear:

"I'm an Indian outlaw... half cherokeeee and Choctaw!"

(Some of you will get it)

[KingSweden]

If Corker retires, the first campaign video from a Dem I want to hear:

"I'm an Indian outlaw... half cherokeeee and Choctaw!"

(Some of you will get it)

I mean, if he does run, he'd have a nonzero chance of winning, considering his appeal to more conservative voters.

He's described himself as a Blue Dog, so he'd be very formidable. Huge coup if Dems can get him

[KingSweden]

He's retiring.

Ugh. TN can (and probably will) do much worse

[KingSweden]

He's retiring.

Ugh. TN can (and probably will) do much worse

Bill Haslam would be just as reasonable as Corker, if not better.

He would. He'd also be unlikely to run.

Also:

Bleh,  Senator Blackburn??? That's horrific.

You're an optimist! I was picturing Senator DesJairlais or Senator Campfield.

[KingSweden]

Senator McGraw!

Endorsed

[KingSweden]

Corker is hardly above anyone that could replace him. Blackburn has never run an ad like the "Call Me, Harold" mess.

I read that in Carly Rae Jepsen voice

[KingSweden]

Travis has hired a campaign finance lawyer

He'd almost certainly run as a right-leaning Indy no?

[KingSweden]

Travis has hired a campaign finance lawyer

He'd almost certainly run as a right-leaning Indy no?

Left-leaning Indy who hates Political Correctness and SJWs.

IF the Democrats pull a 2014 Kansas and don't run a candidate ... he could have a chance.

He sounds right up my alley then!

I think Corker would actually have made a good governor.

We could do worse...and probably will.

Corker and Haslam doing a Tennessee Two-Step and trading seats seems like a best-case scenario. That whole VW Chattanooga thing was egregious, though

[KingSweden]

Fincher in.

Perfect. If Fincher wins the primary, Corker is replaced by somebody semi-sane. If Blackburn wins it, she'll come out looking worse than ever and in a perfect spot for a Democratic upset.

EDIT: Never mind, Fincher is known for being corrupt. Even better.

Sane but corrupt vs nut job who is AFAIK clean. Ugh why didn’t Haslam run

[KingSweden]

Fincher in.

Perfect. If Fincher wins the primary, Corker is replaced by somebody semi-sane. If Blackburn wins it, she'll come out looking worse than ever and in a perfect spot for a Democratic upset.

EDIT: Never mind, Fincher is known for being corrupt. Even better.

Sane but corrupt vs nut job who is AFAIK clean. Ugh why didn’t Haslam run

IIRC, Blackburn is pretty corrupt.  I know she was involved in the opioid scandal that sunk Marino.

I actually think that reporting was unfair to Marino. The bill passed unanimously and apparently he had a reputation of being skeptical of the DEA’s gung ho elements.

Still glad he’s not Drug Czar, but I think the facts of the situation matter

[KingSweden]

Let's have Bredesen run, have Bayh and Strickland primary Donnelly and Brown, bring back Mark Pryor in AR. It can be the 90s again, folks!


While we're at it, I think Siegelman could make an EXCELLENT AL Gov candidate. He was framed, after all.

Better yet: Democrats should run far-left candidates in literally every district, especially business-inclined, pro-life districts. That'll get you a majority for sure!

Even better: purge everyone who isn't the equivalent of Bernie Sanders or Lee Carter or anywhere else to the left. We know that anyone to the right of those two is basically Francisco Franco.

Seriously, it's a big-tent party. Learn to work with it.

I'm fine with a big tent. What I'm not fine with is assuming that dredging up people who haven't run a campaign since ARPANET was a thing is The Magic Bullet.

It's without question by far the best shot we got.

Then there should be a nice, open primary with the best recruits to make sure that Bredesen or whoever else wins is up to speed

This is actually a very fair critique, and I agree.

[KingSweden]

Large, if correct

Heh.

Anyways; good news. At minimum keeps pressure off some vulnerable Democrats

[KingSweden]

Endorsed.

[KingSweden]

https://twitter.com/joelebert29/status/958815193609441281

INBOX: @PhilBredesen says he raised $518,000 over a 24-day period in his bid for the U.S. Senate

Not bad... but he’s gonna need to tip into his personal wealth to keep up with Blackburn

[KingSweden]

Fincher drops out, calls for Corker to enter.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2018/feb/16/fincher-out/463943/

I’m skeptical Corker would win a primary against Blackburn at this point

[KingSweden]

I'm just not buying this.  Over the past few years, we've seen so many Dem+5-10 polls in conservative ancestral Dem states with tons of undecideds that turn into 5-10% Republican wins on election day.

I wonder how this fits into the broader issue of the president's party under-performing polls, only to start over-performing when the opposition party takes over the White House. I don't know how exactly this meshes with ancestrally partisan areas but flucuating enthusiasm gaps based on what party controls the presidency is nothing new.

This is a good point

[KingSweden]

Corker won't campaign against Bredesen:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Doubt it’ll be decisive, but still good news

[KingSweden]

Bredesen got turtle man SHOOK

https://www.twitter.com/desiderioDC/status/987123740793335811

Tee hee sorry Mitch

[KingSweden]

Corker’s donor network and base activating for Bredesen is baaaaaad news for Blackburn. It’ll be interesting to see if TN’s partisan lean can overcome it.

[KingSweden]

Not a poll of the race, but favorability numbers for TN-SEN:

Vanderbilt University, April 26-May 8, 1400 RV

Marsha Blackburn 49/38
Phil Bredesen 67/25

Trump job approval: 53/44

They definitely polled the Senate race, but obviously Blackburn was winning and they didn't want to release that.

Fantastic tinfoil hat.


If a useless, grandstanding far-right congressman beats a very moderate, respected Governor, Tennessee is stupid as hell. Plain and simple. I can't wait until congress is just a bunch of Bernie Sanders & Warren stans vs Marsha Blackburn & Ted Cruz stans. America will go to sh!t if we keep electing terrible & worthless senators.

Yes, they are being unrealistically paranoid.  This is part of Vanderbilt's series of biannual political surveys of the state, in which they poll things like name recognition, favorability, and issue positions.  These surveys typically don't include polling of specific races.  Vanderbilt sometimes does horse-race polling as separate individual polls, not as part of these surveys.

Paranoia implies fear. I am not afraid of losing this race. Just mildly annoyed.

Annoyed... that Corker retired and Haslam passed?

[KingSweden]

So Trump's big attack on Bredesen was "I never heard of the guy".

RIP Bredesen no way he can win after that

[KingSweden]

The Chamber of rich globalist RINO's? Yeah, going to help Blackburn turn out the rural base.

/s

Don’t see how it hurts her, even if it probably isn’t as massive a help as it would have been a decade ago

[KingSweden]

Look what Blackburn made her do

[KingSweden]

I’m here for the quality Taylor Swift content/jokes