Comments on: Moderate Wins Tenn. GOP Primary

By: charles austin

charles austin — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 01:51:41 +0000

Mr. Johnson writes:

But in a state where the Republicans have a built-in advantage, it’s hard to see an African-American winning.

Yeah, those Republicans are such racists, especially in Tennessee. I'll be sure to reprimand all the Republican members of my family who live in Tennessee next time I see them.

Jeez.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 16:37:06 +0000

Concur with Johnson's reasoning. The GOP base lives in its bubble where "everyone" agrees with them, & don't realize there are a lot of middle-of-the road folks with some conservative values who are nonetheless turned off by the whole shebang. I noted the latest example of this during Operation "Save America" (aka "Rescue") protests in Jackson, MS, including my neighborhood. People whom I knew to be both Republican & pro-life were heavily turned off by the protesters. I suspect that many "pro-life" folks have the same attitude about abortion that they do about gays: do it if you will, just don't do it where we have to see/hear about it. (OT: what do the fundamentalists who cherish the King James Version think about having a known homosexual's name on the spine of their Bibles?)

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:47:46 +0000

Also, Van Hilleary already lost a statewide race for governor (2002), which is usually not a good start for another statewide run.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:43:54 +0000

I haven't followed the race at all, although I do recognize Van Hilleary's name, having briefly lived in Tennessee years ago (1995-6). Logically, though, if the moderate candidate was the one who emerged as the winner among the Republican nominating electorate, he has to be a stronger candidate than the others with middle-of-the-road general election voters.

Ford is a very formidable candidate, though.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:19:47 +0000

Poll numbers post by DailyKos:

Mason-Dixon. 7/17-19. Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines)

Corker (R) 49
Ford (D) 36

Rasmussen. 7/16. Registered voters. MoE 4.5% (No trend lines)

Corker (R) 49
Ford (D) 37

University of Tennessee. 7/5-16. Registered voters. MoE 4.4% (No trend lines)

Corker (R) 42
Ford (D) 35

Corker may have to fight to win, but the polls show him with the advantage so far. I haven't seen polls against the other Republican candidates, but I would disagree with Mike Halloran on this being bad for the GOP. Corker's primary win shows that even among Republicans, his opponents were too far to the right. A moderate would have more universal appeal.