Zach Wamp Is Just Like A Bunch Of People Many Of Whom Will Be Behind His Opponents
Posted on May 5, 2009 at 9:46 pmSo proclaims his press release:
“Zach combines the clear vision and laser-like focus of a Lamar Alexander, the energy and drive of a Bob Corker, the command of complex issues like a Bill Frist or a Bill Brock, the common sense and straight talk of a Fred Thompson, and the ability to relate to and communicate with folks from all walks of life like a Winfield Dunn or a Howard Baker. That makes Zach a uniquely talented candidate and a major political force, and I believe his momentum will simply be unstoppable as voters in Middle and West Tennessee get to know him as well as folks already do in East Tennessee.”
Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Gave Extensively To Republicans
Posted on February 23, 2009 at 8:09 am
It would appear that the Tennessee Democratic Party’s new treasurer is not the only Democrat of note with a history of contributing money to both Democratic and Republican causes.
Post Politics has learned that Ward Cammack, one of two Democrats actively campaigning to succeed Governor Phil Bredesen in 2010, has given to a myriad of Tennessee Republican candidates starting in 1979 with a donation to Senator Howard Baker’s 1980 Presidential run.
While Cammack has supported Congressman Jim Cooper with financial donations steadily throughout his career, a large majority of his donations have gone to Tennessee Republican candidates for federal office. In 1994, the year of the Republican Revolution, Cammack gave extensively to both Bill Frist and Fred Thompson who were victorious in grabbing both of Tennessee’s U.S. Senate seats that year.
Cammack also gave heavily to Lamar Alexander contributing to both his Presidential run in 1996 as well as his initial 2002 Senate run. In 2008, Cammack gave heavily to Alexander’s opponent Bob Tuke.
Cammack’s most recent Republican donation was in late 2005 when he contributed $500 to Bob Corker’s 2006 Senate primary campaign though Cammack tells Post Politics he ultimately voted for Corker’s opponent Harold Ford, Jr.
In discussing his party shift, Cammack cannot point to any “Road to Damacus” moment but admits that he is “clearly a convert” to the Democratic cause and credits the Bush years for his shift in worldview.
“Everything has changed. A lot of things people thought they had to protect, be it money or a set of so-called moral beliefs, have proved illusory,” Cammack explains. “All we really have is each other.”
Cammack, whose first Democratic vote for President was cast last fall for Barack Obama, said it was the exclusionary tactics of the GOP which led him to begin to question the staunch Republicanism he had learned as a child.
“Eventually you just have to ask: What is this all about? Why are we marginalizing people like this?” Cammack explains.
When asked whether he could pinpoint whether it was Republican policies on social issues, economic issues or foreign policy that ultimate let to his conversion, Cammack was unequivocal.
“All of the above,” replied Cammack.
Cammack does expect that some may be skeptical of his political past but insists that the Democratic Party is a “very comfortable skin for him.”
“Yes, I have given [money] to Republicans in the past and I have voted for Republicans in the past. I have never tried to hide that,” Cammack says. “But if you ask me if I believe in the Democratic Party, the answer is yes. Yes, I do.”
SEE ALSO: The Rotunda asks: “[I]s there a prominent Democrat expanding the tent of the party to reach the affluent white guys like Ward Cammack and Bill Freeman?”
The Baker Blessing
Posted on January 6, 2009 at 8:26 amThe godfather of modern Tennessee Republicanism, Senator Howard Baker, is expected to endorse Mayor Bill Haslam for Governor according to Andy Sher.
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They Don’t Want No Civil War: The Belmont Civility Forum
Posted on October 6, 2008 at 5:35 pmPhil Bredesen’s civility forum this afternoon sponsored by the Tennessee Business Roundtable and the Freedom Forum featuring both political and media bigwigs turned out some extremely enlightening discussion over the state of political discourse in the nation.
The headliners of the event, Phil Bredesen and Senator Howard Baker, were not part of the geberal panel discussion but did set the tone with short speeches
Howard Baker explained that while excitement for cause and party are part of the process those stimuli should not result in us losing our way to the extent we have.
“Not withstanding the enthusiasm of debate, people must come with an open mind about what people have to say,” Baker said.
Phil Bredesen said that as we hit the “home stretch of one of the hardest fought campaigns” in memory, it is in our interest to “hit the pause button” and reflect.
Bredesen credited his wife Andrea Conte, for spearheading this effort.
Both Bredesen and Baker called for a new respect for governing rather than the uber-concentration on raw politics.
“Politics is a contact sport. Anything we can do to put respect back in the process is essential,” Bredesen explained.
After the speeches by Bredesen and Baker, panelists former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, NBC News VP Mark Whitaker, Bill Nichols of the Politico and moderator Bernard Shaw were introduced.
After taking their seats the assembled audience was treated to an mini history of political advertising.
Starting with the 1964 campaign’s Daisy Ad, the videos showed ads from Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford crescendoing into 1988’s Willie Horton ad as well as the “swift boat” ads of 2004. Advertising from both John McCain and Barack Obama were also featured.
Haley Barbour started out the discussion outlining his barometer for appropriate negativism campaigns. Barbour asks only two questions, “Is it true and is it relevant?”
Barbour went on to argue that this decline in civil discourse is not a result of any change in politics but a change in media.
“What’s happening is not new,” explains Barbour. “There is just more media to broadcast it.”
While Patricia Schroeder did not disagree, she put the coarsening of our political culture chiefly on the way Congressional districts have been drawn. Reapportionment, she asserted, led to districts which are reliably either Republican or Democratic. These safe districts, Schroeder argues, encourage extremism.
“These people are scared of getting primaries, not losing general elections,” explained Schroeder.
Mark Whitaker chimed in with an interesting assertion. He argued that it was not just the candidates and the campaigns will to win that led them to go negative.
He said that political donors hold sway over politicians not only when they govern but when they campaign as well. Candidates get pressure from big partisan donors to attack — and they often get what they pay for.
Haley Barbour offered the observation that in the era of 24 hour media and McCain/Feingold campaigns don’t control their messages anymore. They could not stop the negativism even if they wanted to. Third party groups and the attacks they produce often shape the political discourse in ways that campaigns cannot control.
Bill Nichols concurred pointing to the advent and prominence of underground viral email campaigns such as the emails detailing wildly inaccurate connections of Barack Obama to the religion of Islam.
When Bernard Shaw asked what had happened to fundamental respect, the discussion again turned to reapportionment that the safeness of certain district has a polarizing effect.
Most interesting was the discussion of Harold Ford, Jr., who was in the audience. He was held out as an exception to the rule, that despite the safeness of his Memphis district, Ford was willing to work in a bipartisan fashion.
Haley Barbour, though, subtly called a bit of shenanigans on that assertion noting that Ford, for a long time, had been looking at a statewide political future.
“He was thinking of Tennessee not some narrow congressional district,” explained Barbour.
The former Mississippi Governor also pointed out the reason why Governors seem to be less polarizing figures than those in Congress.
“Senators talk about doing things. Governors actually have to take action…Governors get judged on results. Period.”
The dean of journalism John Seigenthaler brought the panel to a close noting that while the word civility is not in the forty five words of the First Amendment, it is still nonetheless an important goal to strive for.
Seigenthaler emphasized that there is marked a coarseness in our political culture which is dangerous.
“When will the people say enough?” asked Seigenthaler. “Will we wait too long?”
Getting Personal
Posted on October 1, 2008 at 6:54 amColby Sledge reports on the Governor’s effort to make a positive contribution to the civil discourse:
Bredesen and First Lady Andrea Conte, along with former Sen. Howard Baker, will host a forum on civility in politics on Oct. 6, the day before the Belmont debate. It’s a topic Bredesen addressed in a similar forum in January.
“I’ve always been a believer that people who run for office, whether they have D’s or R’s after their names, are all Americans,” Bredesen said. “I understand it’s a contact sport, and you throw some punches, but I think that many times it has gotten way out of hand and very, very personal.”
Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis for this event. To reserve seats through the Tennessee Business Roundtable, call (615) 259-4000 ext. 223.
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Howard Baker To Receive Award
Posted on September 20, 2008 at 2:30 pmFrom the Memphis Daily News:
Howard H. Baker Jr., a former U.S. senator and ambassador, will be honored with American Lawyer magazine’s 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award at a banquet in New York City Oct. 29.
Baker currently serves as senior counsel for Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.
The award honors senior lawyers who have made important contributions to public life while building private or public-interest practices.
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Former East Tennessee Bredesen Campaign Coordinator Goes After The Baker Boys
Posted on September 17, 2008 at 8:07 amFrom the Farragut Press:
Monger, former two-term chair of Knox County Democratic Party and current Fifth District Democratic Representative on Tennessee Board of Governors, took on U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and former U.S. Sen. and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker.
Reading from a list of published criticisms of Alexander, Monger said “17 billion dollars is how much Lamar Alexander voted to give big oil in corporate welfare,” adding that when Alexander first took office in Jan. 2003 “gas was $1.41 cents that we were paying.”
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Former Senator Howard Baker Honored By Japan
Posted on May 23, 2008 at 8:08 amThe spark that ignited modern statewide Republicanism in Tennessee is conferred the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers:
The award, established in 1888, features a medal with the rising sun wreathed by paulownia flowers. It came with a printed proclamation in Japanese calligraphy signed and stamped by Emperor Akihito.
The ceremony was attended by several U.S. dignitaries, including former presidential candidate Fred Thompson, who was Sen. Baker’s campaign manager in 1972; and current Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both R-Tenn.
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who is Japanese-American, delivered the toast, calling Sen. Baker, who also served as Senate majority leader, a “great American.”
The award conferral was one of Ambassador Kato’s final acts, as he vacates his office Monday to become the commissioner of the Japanese Baseball League.
Sen. Baker’s wife, former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., presented Mr. Kato a paperweight featuring the logo of her beloved Kansas City Royals.
Said Mr. Kato, “I can’t think of a better way to close the curtain on my career in diplomacy.”
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