I seriously think Blackburn’s gender is hurting, potentially fatally. This is helpful for Dems but ultimately terrible for democracy.
Democrat women have been doing pretty well in primaries, but Republican women haven’t had the same luck. I don’t think gender is hurting Blackburn, Deb Fischer easily won a race very similar to this one in 2012, in an even less red state.
My thesis is that it’s regional to the southeast, where few women have emerged as conservative leaders (although we can all name those few) and where male conservative politicians are more likely to treat women as followers and second-class elected officials than equals. Bredesen has rare credibility as a Democrat to capitalize on this because of his track record.
