Most people are focusing on the primary result out of Memphis last night where incumbent freshman Steve Cohen held off crushed Harold Ford-machine Democrat Nikki Tinker despite because of her decision to make his white Jewishness an issue and to run ads linking him to the KKK. It is indeed a time to celebrate this laudatory result. The liberal Cohen beat the Harold Ford candidate by a 79-19 margin. Hell yes!!
But there was other good news all the way on the other side of the Volunteer State. Another Republican incumbent has gone down to defeat. In the northeastern First District, cleverly named freshman Rep. David Davis lost the right to run for reelection by a mere 500 votes.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — Being linked to “big oil” turned into a big problem for Tennessee Republican freshman Rep. David Davis, who became the first congressman from that state to lose in a primary in more than four decades.
Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe beat Davis by a 500-vote margin Thursday in the solidly Republican 1st District in the northeastern corner of the state.
Roe’s victory came after a bruising campaign in which he accused Davis of selling out to “big oil.”
The last time an incumbent congressman lost in a Tennessee primary it was 1966. It’s somewhat surprising to see the incumbent lose because of their closeness to Big Oil (in a Republican primary, no less). This should send a signal to the idiotic Republicans up in DC that are engaged in street theater in an effort to get Congress unadjourn and pass an offshore drilling bill.
The race became increasingly acrimonious as the primary election neared. Roe ran a TV ad accusing Davis of selling out to “Big Oil” by accepting money from industry PACs and backing legislation supporting offshore drilling.
Supporting offshore drilling is supposed to save endangered Republicans not kill them off in Republican primaries. On the other hand, we shouldn’t make too much of this result. When Davis won the Republican nomination in 2006 he only got 22% of the vote in a 13-candidate contest. This time he only had two opponents and he almost won.
Still, two lessons were learned last night. First, Harold Ford’s machine is still incapable of winning elections in Tennessee in spite of their willingness to stoop to any level in the pursuit of victory, and offshore drilling isn’t some magic elixir that will save unpopular incumbent Republicans. Far from it.
I already called the DCCC to give them an earful about Tinker’s jew-baiting, and now I’m going to call both the DLC AND the DCCC to rub their noses in it.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA.
yes it IS a good day today.
And lest anyone think that Tinker was not Harold Ford’s stalking horse:
Nevetheless, Ford did condemn Tinker’s ads.
yers, at the very last minute. as in “a few hours before the polls closed”.
BWAHAHAHAHA.
Good old Harold, about as reliably bad as the car his family’s named after.
It shows you that the man is ALL hype. I could understand his Memphis machine being unable to win statewide. But 19% in his home district? Against a white Jew in Memphis? Ford is about one tenth as strong as Bob Brady.
I would actually like to see Bob Brady eat Harold Ford, and I mean that literally.
Bob’s a big guy, he could eat that little pipsqueak like a White Castle slider.
It helps that Ford is so slimy he’d slide right down ole Bob’s gullet…kind of like an anchovy packed in oil.
…and since he’s spineless, Bob won’t have to pick any bones out of his teeth!
LOL
glad to see ford doing as well as the cars!
btw- Boo- i’m getting crazy re the oil contributions and the claims popping up. Do you know who has gotten more from bigoil- the O man or mcshame?
Open Secrets
Im not so sure about Roes victory. Davis is the most odious Congressman ever but our local paper has this
JOHNSON CITY — Challenger Phil Roe apparently held a 500-to-600 vote lead over incumbent David Davis in the early-morning hours on Friday in the tight race for the Republican nomination for 1st District Congressman.
As Davis and his daughter, Rachel, prepared to leave his campaign headquarters shortly before midnight, the one-term congressman stopped his car to tell a Greeneville Sun reporter that he would not yet concede the election.
Davis said he hoped that uncounted absentee votes, especially those of military personnel currently serving overseas, might yet swing the election.
Davis carried Greene County by a wide margin over Roe.
With all Greene County votes counted, including absentees, Davis tallied 2,500 votes and Roe had 1,760.
Standard Best Practices by all industry groups….these guys ALWAYS hedge their bets and oil both sides of the fence so whichever one wins they’ll be in the winner’s circle.