I wanted to report that the Tea Party supported candidates across Tennessee mostly lost their elections yesterday in the primary. Even in the heart of one of the most conservative, anti-Obama states in the country, the Teabaggers could not get it together and win any significant races.
The Tea Party supported incumbent Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, who achieved national notoriety for calling Islam a "cult", was pummelled with a third place finish and only 22% of the vote. To add more humiliation to the wingnuts, another right-wing candidate, Zach Wamp (also nationally known for wanting to secede from the U.S. if the GOP didn't win the elections in November) finished second with 29% of the vote. Wamp was considered to be the candidate of choice for the fundie, "christian" base of the GOP. As a result of a split in the hard-right vote, Knoxville mayor, oilman, and moderate Republican Bill Haslam will be the Republican nominee for Governor. He is expected to beat Blue Dog disciple Mike McWherter handily in November.
Other Tea Party losses:
TN-03:Tea Party Nation, which was founded and is based in Tennessee, endorsed and campaigned for Robin Smith, the former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party. This was the marquee race for TPN, but their candidate finished second to Chuck Fleischmann, destroying much of the Tea Party's institutional credibility in the state. Fleischmann will go on to face Democrat John Wolfe in November. Wolfe, an attorney, is a strong progressive and will make the race a spirited one, but the district is Wamp's former seat and has a PVI of R+13. An amusing side note about this race -- Gubernatorial candidate Basil Marceaux of viral video and Stephen Colbert fame, was also on the ballot to run for this seat (he habitually runs for two or three offices every election). Marceauxmentum did not carry the day in this district, which stretches from Chattanooga to Oak Ridge, TN. Basil only received 1% of the vote in TN-03 and for his governor campaign - despite all the national media attention, he garnered only 1% there too.
TN-05:CeCe Heil, who received the endorsement of Mama Grizzly herself, came in third place while Jeff Hartline, who got the endorsement of Mike Huckabee, came in second. The Republican winner, David Hall, received no endorsement from the Tea Party or from any high-profile conservative organization, for that matter. It is believed by many insiders that Nashville's Republican voters thought they were voting for Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall (a Democrat, btw) instead of David, who is still largely unknown. Hall will go on to face Rep. Jim Cooper in November. Even though Nashville's Democratic base continues to be frustrated with Cooper's conservative voting record, he is expected to win handily.
TN-06: Tea Party favorite Lou Ann Zelenik (who also received some national attention for leading opposition to the building of a new mosque in Murfreesboro, TN) lost to state Senator Diane Black. Black will go on to face Brett Carter, a conservative Democrat who barely beat progressive Ben Leming in the Democratic primary. Since Carter is expected to use the Blue Dog strategy of trying to be as conservative as the Republican, expect him to lose this seat, which has been in Democratic hands since 1875 and briefly belonged to Al Gore.
TN-08: This seat was the most expensive primary race in the country this cycle. The GOP's establishment candidate Stephen Fincher, triumphed over Ron Kirkland, who received many local Tea Party endorsements. Fincher, a family farmer who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in "socialst big government" farm subsidies from DC, will face state Sen. Roy Herron a conservative Democrat.
Another race that insiders watched was a local election for Juvenile Court Clerk in Nashville. The seat had always been in Democratic hands and there was concern that Republican Metro Councilman Eric Crafton could eke out a win thanks to the high GOP turnout in the state. Fail. Democrat David Smith beat Crafton by 10 points.
Unfortunately, the primary results yesterday are bad news for Democrats since the most radical elements of the Republican Party were defeated by many moderate candidates. The Tennessee Democratic Party's work is cut out for them in 2010, but since the Democratic slate is again filled with centrist DINO's who refuse to confront radical conservative ideology head on, expect Tennessee Democrats to continue the slide that has been going on for over a decade under the Blue Dogs' "leadership".
