Mashed Potatoes, Mac ‘N’ Cheese And McWherter
The Mike McWherter for Governor campaign has just launched a campaign staff blog, Traveling Tennessee. One of the first entries is by Political Advisor Jed Brewer:
We ate lunch at a local meat and three by the name of (coincidentally) Larry’s. The owner, Larry, was very gracious in allowing Mike to do a little campaigning before and after he ate…and by a little campaigning, I mean Mike shook the hand of every customer in the restaurant. While at lunch, I was telling Mike and Larry that while most people that work on campaigns eventually get very tired of eating at these meat and three type restuarants (we do eat at lots of them), I love it. Really, I do. It is far and away my favorite part of being on the campaign trail. I bet I have tried mac & cheese and mashed potatoes in almost every county in Tennessee…and rarely have I been disappointed. Yesterday was no exception, Larry’s makes an excellent country ham, mashed potatoes and mac & cheese plate! Not to be outdone by me, Mike had a nice helping of Catfish and turnip greens that he seemed to really enjoy! I can’t say this enough, I love getting to sample food from the great local restaurants all over Tennessee.
McWherter Team Takes Shape
The gubernatorial candidate names his key aides:
Kim Sasser Hayden, former executive director of the Tennessee Democratic Party and field director for Gov. Phil Bredesen’s 2002 and 2006 campaigns, will serve as campaign manager. April Orange, who also worked on the Bredesen campaign, will head up fund-raising efforts.
Communications and Web development for the campaign will be headed up by Mike Kopp and MMA creative. Jed Brewer, who managed State Sen. Lowe Finney’s succesful 2006 campaign and Mike Padgett’s 2008 senatorial bid, is also part of the campaign team.
Called Out
Ward Cammack Political Director Mark Brown wants to know Mike McWherter’s position on guns in bars:
UPDATE: From Mike McWherter advisor Jed Brewer:
“Mike is a lifetime member of the NRA and is a strong proponent of second amendment rights. While there may be some common sense exceptions, Mike in general strongly agrees with the notion that guns and alcohol don’t mix.”
Johnny Hayes, RIP
Ken Whitehouse drops the somber news on the world and shares his personal reflections on the gallant man of Tennessee politics:
Not long into Bredesen’s first term as governor, I began to face health issues of my own. I was unable to concentrate and work effectively to put it mildly. While I had the tremendous support of my mother, sisters, and brother at this time, Johnny was there too. He made sure that I was not forgotten, picking up the loose ends that had slipped through the cracks.
He didn’t ask for anything in return. He never sought any sort of recognition, he was just a quiet guiding force that helped me through one of the darkest periods of my life.
SEE ALSO:
Jed Brewer
Erik Schelzig
Dean Stone
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Phil Ain’t Lying
Jed Brewer requests we not hate on Phil Bredesen for telling Barack Obama not to visit or expend resources in Tennessee. The Gov speaks the truth:
[T]here comes a time that you have to focus on the finish line, WINNING. You can’t help the people you did, or did not, visit if you don’t win. With two months to go, there is no reason for Barack Obama to set foot in Tennessee, a state where he is down by double digits. At the same time, there is no reason for John McCain to be here either. It’s in the bag, move on, focus on how you win.
Not So Great Moments In Flackery
Jed Brewer of the Last Mango throws a bit of love towards his old school chum, the now-infamous McCain flack, Tucker Bounds:
Me — I just feel Tucker’s pain. He’s having to spend all his time basically saying, “No, really, she IS a good pick, she DOES have experience. She’s commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard, for God’s sake!
I’m serious: Tucker is a smart guy. I’m sure he sees this pick the way most Americans do, but he is also good at his job and will say what NEEDS to be said. It’s just too bad John McCain put him in such a crappy position.
That’s why I feel sorry for Tucker Bounds.
Partying Over Pigment And Plumbing
Jed Brewer is excited that, no matter what happens in the election, one of the top two spots will be held by someone who is not a white male:
Bravo to you Senator for looking past the labels this country sometimes has problems looking past. This is a truly historic selection, as it ensures that one of our top two offices will be held by someone other than a white male.
Specifically Negative: Obama Shows He Is Not Above The Fight
I must say I was surprised by this speech. One would have expected at this moment in time, speaking to the largest audience live and on television that he has likely ever engaged at length, Obama would have delivered a high powered version of the inspirational speeches that made him the transcendent political figure he has become.
While the speech was certainly quintessential Obama in parts, in other ways, it was a departure and certainly not what one would have expected for the occasion. Ben Smith has said the speech was an example of both offense and defense, but one stuck out more than the other. Obama made the negative case against McCain a centerpoint in a way I don’t think many would have predicted.
The knock against Obama is that he is too grandiose. The knock against Obama is that his speeches, while inspirational, are, to a certain extent, utopian, sentimental fluff.
Not tonight. Not entirely anyway.
Tonight, not only did he go after McCain in an, at times, angry fashion, he offered far more in terms of explicit policy provisions than he usually does, at least in most speeches I have seen. He laid out, not just the case against McCain, but he laid out his case, his very liberal case, for where he wants to take America.
This speech showed Obama’s pragmatic side. Not ideological pragmatism, not at all. He laid out a more explicitly progressive agenda than is usual for a candidate with half a chance of winning in this country. But tactically, Obama seems to have taken the copious criticisms of his political persona to heart.
Obama took the fight to John McCain in way one would not have expected of a candidate who tries to be above politics as much as possible. This speech reveals that Obama is aware that he cannot rely on purely on his charisma and rhetorical skill alone. He recognizes that he will not coast to victory just on the cult of celebrity which has been created around him.
A normal Democrat, in this political climate, could get away with staying above it all and let the economy and the disaster in Iraq speak for itself and make the Republican try and bring him down.
Obama clearly realizes that he is not just any Democrat. He has deficiencies and and liabilities that are very much unique to him. Yes, Obama has to be Obama and no doubt he will be. He has to inspire and he has to expand the electorate. But he cannot be above the fight.
This speech proves that Obama knows this. This speech was bad news for John McCain.
SEE ALSO:
Jed Brewer
Chris Sanders
DaveG
Jeff Cassman
Ilissa Gold
Sharon Cobb
50-44 Memphis
Music City Oracle
Chuck Todd
First Read
Rich Hailey
Allen Fuller
Enclave
David Sirota
Lynn Sebourn
More Sebourn
smijer
Media Lizzy
More Enclave
Moore Thoughts
Crone Speaks
Marisa Richmond
Katherine Miller
Article 99
Evans Donnell
Evangelicals for Mitt
Six Meat Buffet
Biden Time
Biden? Home f***ing run, I think. I still wouldn’t pick him first for president, but his tenacity and spirit speak to why he really is a pretty good choice for number two. And, well, this is going to get all hokey, but you wanna know why I really feel okay about Joe Biden for veep? Jill Biden’s eyes. I saw in her eyes a pride — not a pride rooted in enjoying her rise to a superficial power, like that which I saw in Laura Bush’s eyes eight years ago — but the genuine pride one must feel when seeing a loved one succeeding at doing the good they’ve always hoped to do. I saw a woman who would not marry anyone but a good man, and must assume by extension that Joe is exactly what he seems.
We as an American people have had our noses bloodied over the last 8 years under the Bush/Cheney administration. Now it’s time to hit the streets and in November, hit the voting booth and like any good Southern Appalachian Democrat would do, bloody their noses by sending the Republicans packing.
Are you insulted yet? Biden recounted that when he was a kid Americans learned to get back up when they were knocked down. But today it is different. Today’s Americans can’t succeed unless the government “helps” them. We are all children who need the benevolent protection and guidance of the nanny state.
Kerry gave the most stirring call to arms of the convention. VP candidate Joe Biden, who just finished, was good but his speech was not nearly as impressive as Kerry’s, in my opinion.
What you’re saying is NOT change, it’s more of the same. There’s too much here to go through it all tonight. However, for one thing, when you criticize John McCain for voting against raising the minimum wage, you simply are being a demogogue.
SEE ALSO:
Moderate Voice
Politico
The Hill
Sully
Transcript
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“That Makes Two of Us”: Bill Clinton Gives Barack A Rhetorical Bearhug
Andrew Sullivan on Bill Clinton:
I don’t buy his evisceration of everything the Republican party has done in the last quarter century. I think the GOP did a great deal to rescue this country in the 1980s and early 1990s. In fact, I think Clinton would have failed as a president without the foil of the Gingrich GOP. But since 2000, the worst aspects of Republicanism have crowded out its once necessary virtues. The reflexive impulse to use force over diplomacy, to use aggression over persuasion, to spend and borrow with no concern for the future, and to violate sacred principles such as the eschewal of torture with no respect for the past: these must not just be left behind. They have to be repudiated.
The United States needs this repudiation, as does the world. McCain, alas, cannot provide it. He may once have. But his party is too far gone, and his moment passed. His use of fear and deception and brattish contempt in this campaign have sealed the deal for me. But Clinton reminded all of us of what is more broadly at stake. He did it with passion and measure and eloquence. And surpassing intelligence.
We’ve seen the worst of Bill Clinton these past few months, Tonight, we saw the best. And it’s mighty good.
SEE ALSO:
Transcript
Chris Sanders
Ben Smith
Three Readies
Jed Brewer
GoldnI
Tennessee Guerilla Women
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Hillary Comes Through
She conspicuously didn’t tell her supporters — many of whom personally dislike Obama — that they should vote for Obama because of anything in particular that’s good about Obama. She praised Obama only as a generic Democrat, and as an alternative to four more years of Republican rule; she really didn’t mention anything specific about him that makes him appealing. Again, mostly just that he’s not McCain.
And then came Hillary. What can I say? I had tears in my eyes. She absolutely hit a grand slam tonight! I’m sure all of you have your own spin, but she brought down the house.
It’s not easy to lose with the kind of grace Hillary has shown this summer.
I know. I just lost a tough one a few weeks ago. I hope I walked away with a fraction of the style that she has shown. Because I believe that electing a democrat to the Senate in November is as important as keeping John McCain out of the White House.
Hillary Clinton has far more class, grace, and dignity than the PUMA freaks who protest in her name. She ripped McCain as Bush’s twin in the Twin Cities, and reminded her supporters that they should not have been in the race just for her. And “No way, no how, no McCain” is a line that will last beyond this week.
Hillary was gracious, strong, on message, and spoke to her supporters, who now have to support Barack Obama if they believe in the things Hillary was fighting for, and not just Hillary.
She blew the doors off the event (I was going to use the “knocked it out of the park” metaphor, but the media is already overusing the baseball metaphors), and she gave a call-to-Jesus exhortation to her ardent supporters and reminded them that Republicans would bring down everything her campaign is committed to. She passionately promoted Barack Obama from beginning to end and the Obama supporters owe her their deepest thanks for doing everything anyone could have humanly done from a podium in a pivotal speech to rebind the Democrats.
Her speech may not change the PUMA issues but it was about unity and she delivered. By tomorrow morning, it will be back to politics as usual however, Hillary Clinton, tonight deserves kudos for a well structured speech.
It is clear that Senator Hillary Clinton is a team player and a true Democrat. While many of us want us to tell Americans and Hillary supporters to get over it but it is not that easy. When you put your heart and soul into something like many of the Hillary supporters did for Hillary than you have to understand it isn’t easy to just give it up and conform. However Hillary made sure that her supporters understood that it should not have been about her.
SEE ALSO:
Behind the Scenes
The video tribute
An emotional night
Hillary’s speech was a study in the virtue of low expectations
Clinton did what she needed to do
Hillary Clinton played the good soldier
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You Do Know He’s Catholic, Yeah?
Jed Brewer on Vice-Presidential nominee Joe Biden as an honorary Southern Appalachian Democrat:
Joe may talk a lot, but so do I. He may flub a line sometimes, but so do I. I’m not talking about just me, but your everyday working man and woman in America.
Joe may not be from the Appalachia, or even the south, but he still fits the mold of a Southern Appalachian Democrat.
The Guy Who’s Not The Guy Is The Guy: Obama Picks Biden
It’s looking like the first African-American nominee has picked a man who once bragged on being from a slave state:
The United States Secret Service has dispatched a protective detail to assume the immediate protection of Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a source tells ABC News, indicating in all likelihood that Biden has been officially notified that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has selected him to be his running mate.
REACTIONS:
The Page
Brendan Loy
Right Wing Vitriol
Median Sib
Enclave
Cool Cat
Jed Brewer
Lew Rockwell
Jama Oliver
Dan Lehr
David Oatney
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55-40 Memphis
Evans Donnell
Dru’s Vues
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Left Wing Cracker
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Say Uncle
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Crone Speaks
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Bear Creek Ledger
Carol Borges
Ben Cunningham
Tennessee Democrats Love The Boss
Jed Brewer ticks off some the notable names taking in the Bruce Springsteen concert last night.
Less Than Audacious
Jed Brewer on why Barack Obama could never, would never pick Hillary Clinton:
[W]hy not pick her? One reason…she is NOT a white male. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have NO problem with a woman, african american, hispanic, etc. in the White House, BUT in the history of this country, we have never had anything but a white male in either spot. I think it will be hard to have both spots on the ticket taken up by something different and still win. Obama and his advisors are pretty damn smart people, they know this. So, in my opinion, Hillary’s out.
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Tennessee’s Other Southern Appalachian Democrat
Mike Padgett’s former campaign manager and the operative behind the 2006 slaying of incumbent state Senator Don McLeary, Jed Brewer, has started a blog.
In his introductory post Brewer discusses Tennessee Fourth Grand Division:
However, one of the areas that I felt we, as a campaign, excelled at was in new media world. I once heard someone say that the internet was soon going to be Tennessee’s fourth grand division. I think it has transformed into that…now the jury is still out as to the effect it has with the average voter in Tennessee. I think it is an excellent tool to communicate with activists, donors and the younger generation today. However, I still don’t think it has the effect on the average voter that direct mail, radio or TV has. Anyways, back to my point…personally, I believe that our on-line presence was top notch. It was an area that Mike and our team put a lot of time and effort into. We had a daily online journal, twittered quite often about, posted (most) news releases and policy statements the day they went out as well as just having a good overall website (no i didn’t design it myself). In addition, we got a lot of good traffic with the blog community. Mike and I both got to meet and know several bloggers out there during the course of the campaign…and its this that has brought me to where I am now…sitting at my kitchen table at 1am starting my own blog…because i feel that, “there’s still so much to be done,” or said.
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Padgett Campaign Manager Finds Eaton Press Release “Interesting”
Jed Brewer, campaign manager for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Padgett, grants a request for comment by Post Politics on a press release issued by candidate Ken Eaton referencing Bob Tuke’s attorney client list which allegedly includes companies who outsource jobs overseas:
“After taking a quick look at Mr. Eaton’s release, I find it interesting.
“Throughout this campaign, I thought that Mike and Bob were standing side by side on the issue of protecting American jobs and fighting the practice of outsourcing.
“But if Bob has clients who send jobs overseas – while he’s promising voters that he’ll do something about Tennessee losing jobs to cheap overseas labor* – then he’s talking out of both sides of his mouth.
“If this is true, I am really disappointed in Bob. I’d really be interested in what he has to say.
“As a partner in a law firm that profits handsomely from clients who outsource jobs, how can he credibly say he’ll take a stand against outsourcing?
“Mike remains committed to protecting and creating decent-paying jobs for Tennesseans and all Americans and punishing companies that outsource jobs overseas. If the information you have is correct, I don’t see how Bob can credibly make that same promise.”
Tuke for Tennessee had not responded to a request for comment on the release at the time of this posting.
Undecided Wins: A Bob Tuke Internal Poll
The Tuke campaign has just released internal polling in the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate and it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the folks that say that no one really cares about this race are right on the money:
My campaign conducted an 800 sample statewide poll last week and it showed that all our hard work is paying off. The most important finding in the poll was about the primary. We asked the following question:
In the Democratic primary for US Senate, the candidates are: Leonard Ladner, Kenneth Eaton, Gary Davis, Mike Clayton, Mike Padgett and Bob Tuke. Which one would you vote for if the election were held today?
Bob Tuke
38%32%
Mike Padgett 8%
Other 4%
Undecided 57%
The poll was conducted by the Global Strategy Group, a polling firm the Tuke campaign notes has been used by Gov. Ned McWherter, Congressman John Tanner and Harold Ford, Jr. The poll was conducted June 24-26 and has a margin of error of 4%.
UPDATE: The VotePadgett response from Campaign Manager Jed Brewer:
“Unlike Bob, Mike has visited with citizens in every county in Tennessee and has seen the big picture. People across Tennessee don’t know Bob Tuke. And he hasn’t been to visit them. Mike has and feels good about the outcome in the only poll that matters. The one on August 7.”
“I find it interesting that this guy used to be head of the state party and in a primary of the people he used to lead, there are still 57% undecided. That sounds to me like Democrats were not too happy with his leadership.”
“38 plus 8 plus 4 is 50 so how are there 57 undecided? If the Tuke campaign is going to release a poll, I’d think the least they can do is get the numbers to add up.”
UPDATE II: Tuke campaign manager Ben Chao corrects the numbers via email blast:
Today’s Tuesdays with Tuke had a typographical error for which I take full responsibility.
Upon seeing the correction email, Padgett Campaign Manager Jed Brewer retracted the third paragraph of his response.
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