Grasstop Democrats

By Kleinheider Posted on May 19, 2008 at 8:16 am

Clint Brewer talks of the lack of party building on the part of Tennessee Democrats and the lack of support party building effort see from Democratic star candidates and officeholders:

[B]ecause both Bredesen and Ford were — and are — very alike when it comes to their political strength. Both men rely almost solely on a network of well-connected business people, party operatives, longtime staffers and other political types that are their pawns and their pawns alone to move around on the board.

According to many well-placed Democratic campaign types, the popular wisdom is that Bredesen, in particular, will not leave much of anything in terms of an established apparatus for the Tennessee Democratic Party. He is not able to lend his fund-raising connections, his inner circles expertise or his political network to anyone because it only exists based upon his own personal strengths and characteristics — a conservative, proven corporate type that is socially moderate and vaguely urban.

“Phil Bredesen is a lot like Lamar Alexander when it comes to party building,” one long-time Tennessee politico said last week. “When you mention party building, their eyes glaze over.”

Put in simpler Nashville parlance, the Bredesens and Fords of the world are solo artists.

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