Bredesen can’t stay Switzerland forever

Frank CagleFeature

Some Democrats are throwing stumbling blocks in the way of ol’ bipartisan, center right and RINO fave Phil Bredesen’s run for the U.S. Senate. He’s being included in the headcount of Democrats to block President Trump’s pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. How does that play in Tennessee?

Meanwhile, Democrats are calling for ICE to be abolished. Trump administration figures are being harassed in restaurants or turned away. War is breaking out between Democrats and Trump supporters and Bredesen won’t be able to be Switzerland much longer. It reminds me of the days when conservative Southern Democrats had to run with George McGovern hanging around their necks.

Michael Moore says in order to prevent Trump appointing a conservative to the Supreme Court it is necessary for the Democrats to delay a vote until after the midterms and to elect Democrats in Arizona and Nevada and elect “the beloved former governor” in Tennessee. The rotund documentarian was being interviewed by Bill Maher on HBO about how to save civilization as we know it by blocking Trump’s pick.

All it will take to delay a vote on the Supreme Court pick is for Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to demand a candidate who won’t overturn Roe v. Wade. That’s not going to happen. If the Democrats hold what they have and pick up three seats in the mid-terms, Republicans can watch the conservative Supreme Court majority go bye-bye.

One expects Republicans to attack Bredesen as someone who will vote for Chuck Schumer to be either minority leader or majority leader. But now hot button issues like the Supreme Court pick are fair game for Republicans to ask where Bredesen stands.

Short takes

—- Have we ever had a former state senator in Tennessee come back and run for a House seat? This year we have two. Former state Sen. Stacey Campfield, who lost his seat to Sen. Richard Briggs, is running for the open House seat being vacated by state Rep. Roger Kane. Kane ran for county clerk, losing to Sherry Witt in the Republican Primary. Up in Union County, former state Sen. Mike Williams is running for the House against incumbent state Rep. Jerry Sexton.

I called the usual suspects and no one can recall it happening before. There are times when someone loses a Senate seat and will come back and run for it again, but in the last several decades dropping back to run for the House hasn’t happened. The salary and benefits for a senator and a representative are the same. The slightly more prestigious senate seat means you only have to run for re-election every four years instead of every two in the House. Given the smaller number of senators and the lack of subcommittees each senator has a bit more influence than in the much larger House.

On the race for Kane’s seat, Campfield is opposed by former Sheriff Tim Hutchison, who ran for the seat before and lost to Kane. Williams is said to be doing very well against Sexton.

—- Does anyone find it strange for Jack Daniel’s distillery to turn over its facilities for a Phil Bresdesen for Senate campaign commercial? Including what seems to be a group of employees looking on in support? The commercial is criticizing Trump’s tariffs which have sparked retaliation from the European Union by singling out Jack Daniel’s for similar treatment. Jack Daniel’s has often called on the Republican legislature for special legislation. For instance, the company asked for and got a property tax exemption on whiskey barrels that saved the company millions. Doing a commercial with a Democrat isn’t exactly a smart business practice.

—- Bill Lee, who talks about his huge heat and air company with 1,200 employees in a Nashville suburb, has had $13.8 million in government contracts since 2012, according to the Tennessean. His campaign says he will cancel any state contracts if elected governor. But are you really an outsider if you’ve been in business with the state and cities like Nashville?

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