The Setting
Posted on January 26, 2009 at 3:57 pmThe sage of Cordova on the vote Saturday that made Chip Forrester the new head of the Tennessee Democratic Party
Appropriately, the vote Saturday was taken in the very House chamber where the Democratic minority had staged its coup two weeks ago. And, if that previous vote - whereby 49 Democrats plus Williams had narrowly overcome a regular GOP bloc of 49 — had been a patent maneuver to forestall Republican control of the chamber, the one on Saturday could be regarded as a proper sequel
Both events were directly related to the Democrats’ unexpected debacle in last fall’s election, when Republicans grabbed off enough seats to take a 50-49 edge in the state House, becoming the majority party there for the time since Reconstruction. (In 1969-70, the GOP had held the Speakership and majority leader position - the latter being Memphian Tom Avery - but that was the result of a 49-49 dead lock, with an independent casting his lot that session with the Republicans.)
Considering that the electoral trend in 2008 proved overwhelming nationwide, for both Democrats in general and presidential candidate Barack Obama in particular, the GOP victory in Tennessee’s legislative races, if not a Perfect Storm, owed a great deal to some freak political weather. A last-minute touchdown in East Tennessee by GOP candidate John McCain, who was aiming at a Southwest Virginia audience; a hoarding of campaign funds by over-confident Democratic loser Nathan Vaughn; political advertising that was widely regarded as sub-standard; a feckless statewide election strategy that was deemed likewise.
But a major factor was what, in retrospect, seems an inexplicable aversion on the part of party leaders - notably Bredesen and potential gubernatorial successor Davis - to the idea of campaigning within the state by charismatic standard-bearer Obama.
