Mark Brown Defends The Message

By Kleinheider Posted on November 20, 2008 at 11:01 am

Senate Democratic Caucus Political Director Mark Brown looks back at the strategies of campaign 2008 with Jackson Baker:

Brown also takes exception to my having noted that official Democratic Party statements attempted misleadingly to saddle write-in candidate Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat who had significant Republican help, with support for a state income tax solely because she was financially backed by former Republican governor Don Sundquist. (For the record, Kurita was resolutely opposed to Sundquist’s income tax proposals as a senator.)

Brown’s response to that is something of a nolo contendere. After acknowledging that “we hit Kurita on Sundquist because Sundquist gave her campaign contributions,” he amplifies on that later by claiming that Republicans often have made unfairly sweeping allegations concerning Democratic support for an income tax (a point well taken), so that “[w]e pushed back by pointing out that Republicans were taking campaign contributions from Don Sundquist, the father of the state income tax; however, other than press releases and a few automated calls, this was never a major piece of our messaging.”

I’ll let that statement speak for itself.

permalink | Comment on this post

Tags: Don Sundquist, Income tax, Jackson Baker, Mark Brown, Rosalind Kurita  

The New House Majority Made Lincoln Davis’ Mind Up For Him

By Kleinheider Posted on November 10, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Jeff Woods talks to state Senate Democratic Caucus Political Director Mark Brown who argues that Democrats in Tennessee only do well when the top of the ticket is strong. Woods points out why this will be important two years from now:

The above analysis makes it all the more imperative for the party to field a strong candidate for governor in 2010 against Bill Frist, the likely GOP nominee. The good news for Democrats is that Lincoln Davis is probably now more likely to run. Before the election, he was said to be leaning toward staying in Congress. Now, he might as well run for governor since Republicans in the legislature are about to gerrymander him out of his job in Washington.

SEE ALSO: R. Neal

permalink | 3 Comments

Tags: 2010 Governor's race, Lincoln Davis, Mark Brown  

We Were Totally On A Break When That Happened

By Kleinheider Posted on October 3, 2008 at 5:51 pm

State Senate Democratic Caucus Political Director Mark Brown didn’t think GOP Senate candidate Mike Faulk’s counterattack on him for disclosing opposition research by a Texas firm to Kingsport Times News Reporter Hank Hayes was entirely appropriate.

Brown resents the implication that his informative political work was done on the state’s dime. He is on leave, you see, from the Caucus in order to provide reporters with information about a lawyers’ former clientele.

“Sounds like Mike Faulk desperately wants to change the subject. Absolutely nothing was done on state time. I am presently on leave from the state, working on Democratic Senate campaigns. Just as, for example, Republican staffer Rick Nicholson is on leave working for the campaign of Rosalind Kurita.”

The full piece of opp research can be found here. For more information about the crew that culled the salacious info on Faulk, go here.

SEE ALSO: Angelia

permalink | 7 Comments

Tags: Mark Brown, Mike Faulk, Mike Williams, opposition research, Rick Nicholson  

Where Is Dee Love?

By Kleinheider Posted on May 12, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Senate Democratic Caucus spokesman Mark Brown comments on the attempt to unseat GOP State Senator Jim Tracy in the Shelbyville Times Gazette:

“We have an A-list candidate in Jean Ann Rogers,” said Mark Brown, communications director for the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus. “We feel that this is a winnable seat. It’s a swing district…. Frankly, we feel like the people of Senate District 16 are looking for a change.”

Problem here, of course, is that there are TWO candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in this race. Both Rodgers and a woman named Dee Butler filed to run in the Democratic primary. Butler, in these times of racially divisive Democratic politics, also happens to be an African-American candidate.

Mark Brown, via email, explains his oversight in the third person:

The Caucus spokesperson isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack. The reporter asked him about Jean Anne Rogers and he responded as reported, without thinking that he should add that Dee Butler is an a-list candidate, too. One of many moments of idiocy from this spokesperson.

Rogers and Butler are both A-list candidates. The Democratic nominee for SD16 will be a strong candidate, regardless of who wins the primary.

permalink | Comment on this post

Tags: Dee Butler, Jean Ann Rodgers, Jim Tracy, Mark Brown, Tennessee State Senate