Rep. Lincoln Davis Lays Hands On Chip Forrester
Posted on May 4, 2009 at 7:42 pmThe highlight of the TNDP Summit in Monteagle: Rep. Lincoln Davis puts his arm around the chairman of his party and says the following.
“I’m not completely through yet set back down. Also about a year and three or four months ago, many of us thought Hillary Clinton was gonna be the nominee — and she would have been a good one.
But there was this young fella, who knew how to organize at the grassroots level. We’ve got a chairman who understands that, too. And those of you in this room understand that. It is the grassroots organization that will win back the majority in Tennessee. Chip, thank you.”
Forces allied with Davis have long been suspected (along with those of the governor) of being the instigators behind the recent discord within the party.
See the exact moment at this link.
TNDP Gets In On The Haslam Bashing
Posted on April 16, 2009 at 2:22 pmNo sense in letting a good Republican connection to price-gouging during a rough economy go to waste:
The Tennessee Democratic Party has helped bring attention to the price gouging by Pilot Corp. and other gas stations in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Pilot Corp. was caught marking up prices at three gas stations in Knoxville and one in Powell.
TNDP Chairman Chip Forrester praised the settlement. “In the wake of a natural disaster, oil companies made a huge profit at the expense of drivers all over the country. I’m happy that Tennesseans are finally getting their money back,” Forrester said.
Bill Haslam is the former vice-president of Pilot Corporation, a petroleum corporation founded by his father Jim Haslam and headquarted in Knoxville. Haslam is currently the mayor of Knoxville and also a Republican candidate for Governor.
April Fools, We Think…
Posted on April 1, 2009 at 10:45 amWith Chip Forrester in charge, I suppose anything is possible. A press release from the Tennessee Democratic Party:
The Tennessee Democratic Party today gave its full support to pending legislation that would allow citizens to carry their guns into the voting booth.
The Senate bill, SB 357, would remove the requirement that guns be left outside the voting booth.
“For too long, law-abiding Tennesseans have suffered the inconvenience of leaving their guns outside the polling place,” says Forrester. “Now however, it has gone beyond inconvenience. With the Republicans removing fair-minded Election Coordinators across the state for partisan reasons, Democrats need to be able to carry their guns to protect their voting rights.”
The Republican takeover of the Tennessee General Assembly has impacted county election offices across the state, as GOP leaders have begun replacing law-abiding commissioners for purely partisan reasons.
“I think it would be very understandable that they would want to make a change if there had been problems with the way the elections had been run,” Sarah Bailey, coordinator of Elections in Unicoi County told News Channel 11 in Bristol.
However, Republican leaders want to replace Bailey and other Democrats regardless of the quality of their job performance.
The House is expected to reach bi-partisan consensus on a similar bill. “We know that Republicans want guns in parks and bars, so we don’t expect any fight from them on this common sense legislation,” Forrester said.
“And if anyone has a problem with guns in voting booths, they should just check the date and get over it,” Forrester concluded.
The 50 State Strategy Will Be Modified
Posted on January 18, 2009 at 5:44 pmFrom Open Left:
In response to both questions Kaine talks about all the ways that Virginia has gone from red to blue over the last few years and gives credit to Dean for this. I see it more as going from reddish-purple to bluish-purple but okay. He says the 50-state strategy was “really important.” Good. He says “Its success speaks for itself.” Yes.
But in both answers he says they won’t being doing exactly what they did during the last 4 years. Kaine: “You never should just do what you did yesterday” and “We may do it in different ways.” More specifically, Virginia is not, say, Idaho and therefore: “I won’t say it should apply equally in every state.” But we will continue it in “new and exciting ways.”
What will be interesting is how this adapted 50 State strategy will affect Tennessee. One would assume due to Tennessee’s rejection of Obama and the Republican state legislative surge that Tennessee will be one of the lower priority states. More Idaho than Virginia, so to speak.
The Tennessee Democratic Party has relied the past two years on funds from the DNC borne out of the strategy. Whole salary positions at the party were funded out of DNC funds.
If these funds are to dry up (and reading between the lines here it is clear that they will) how will the Tennessee Democratic Party adapt?
Most importantly, who is best able to deal with this apparent setback amongst the candidates for TNDP chair, Chip Forrester or Charles Robert Bone?
Forrester Rebukes Tennessee Democratic Grasstops
Posted on December 27, 2008 at 12:18 pmFormer Treasurer of the Tennessee Democratic Party and a candidate for chairman of the organization has fired back a response to a letter signed by many of Tennessee’s top Democratic officeholders in support of his opponent Charles Robert Bone:
Our state Party was led this year by the very people who have now signed the endorsement letter for Charles Robert Bone. They set the strategy for this year’s campaign in Tennessee.
Our state Party did not suffer from a lack of funding, I know because as Treasurer I signed the checks. What our Party suffered from this year was a lack of a grassroots organization that involved everyone that believes in and supports the values of the Democratic Party.
You cannot build a viable political party from the top down, no more than you can improve the economic well being of our country with “trickle down” economics as failed Republican administration policies, tragically for our country’s working men and women, have so vividly shown us these past 8 years.
And while I respect everyone who signed the endorsement letter, if these elections have taught us anything, they should have shown us that the “top down” approach does not work any longer in Tennessee.
Read the full letter.
Calling A Eunuch, A Eunuch
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 7:31 amPete Kotz does not hold the Tennessee Democratic Party in the highest esteem:
With his obstruction of the auto bailout, Senator Bob Corker has launched the greatest union-busting campaign since Ronald Reagan stomped the air traffic controllers. His demands for UAW wage cuts–while giving a pass to management salaries–should be a hanging curve for any self-respecting progressive. As Barack Obama proved, populist economics are so powerful right now they can even get a black guy elected.
But you don’t hear Tennessee Democrats lighting up Corker, do you? Since losing the legislature, they’ve been content to complain about racism. It’s as if they plan to win back the state by getting everyone to feel sorry for them.
Perhaps worse is they’ve beaten by a less than mighty foe.
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An Insider Speaks Out On Chip
Posted on December 11, 2008 at 10:09 amYesterday, candidate for TNDP Chair Chip Forrester sent a letter to Democratic Party state executive committee members recounting a meeting with the state House Democratic Caucus and outlining his vision for the party going forward.
One Democratic insider, who shall remain nameless, took issue with the missive and fired off this email to Post Politics:
1. Chip makes out like he had this private meeting with the House Caucus. In reality, the House Caucus invited both candidates to speak to them. Chip and Charles Robert both attended the meeting and gave presentations.
2. Chip is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He wants to buddy up to the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly and then take shots at them in letters to activists. When he criticizes the “failed policies of 2008,” he’s criticizing the policies established by the Senate Leadership (particularly Haynes and Kyle), the House leadership (particularly Odom, Rinks, and Naifeh), Democratic members of Congress, the Governor’s Office, and our campaigns. I doubt that Chip thought he was criticizing TNDP. He’s been around long enough to know how things work. He knows full well that state party chairs do not hold dictatorial authority over campaigns. In fact, state party chairs fall well down the food chain.
3. Which brings me to the next point: Chip has been TNDP treasurer for the last two cycles. His name has been in the disclaimer of every piece of mail and every radio or television spot. By the TNDP by laws, Chip, as treasurer, has personally signed off on every TNDP expenditure over $5,000. In other words, Chip was intimately involved with those “failed policies” he now criticizes. Why didn’t he raise objections during the campaign if he thought those policies were bad? Chip is the consummate insider who is now trying to look like an outsider.
4. Some activists might not want to accept this, but we ran a fantastic coordinated campaign. We simply couldn’t overcome the blowout at the top of the ticket in the areas in which we had races. For example:
- Those “boots on the ground” that Chip promises? We had 10 paid, full-time field staffers on the ground in our targeted areas running canvassing operations. That’s far more “boots on the ground” than any Democratic or Republican coordinated campaign in Tennessee has ever provided.
- Here’s the real indicator of the strength of our campaigns: we lost three Senate races (SD 4, 12, 26). McCain beat Obama by 74,000 votes in those districts. We lost those races by 9,800 votes. There was a 7.7% drop-off rate in these districts (people that voted in the presidential but not the State Senate), which leaves us with 68,000 McCain votes (74,000 minus about 6,000 drop offs). That means we got approximately 58,000 McCain voters to vote for Mike Williams, Becky Ruppe, and Randy Camp. Down ticket, voters were moving our way, which is an indicator that we were getting through to people. At the end of the day, it took our best effort — which we gave — to get this close.
I personally like Chip, but he’s being dishonest about what went down. I never once heard a word of concern from Chip during the campaign - just the opposite. He talked about how well he thought things were going considering the complete absence of a presence at the top of the ticket in Tennessee.
Ya Gotta Have Faith: Tim McGraw Serious About Gubernatorial Run?
Posted on December 10, 2008 at 7:39 amThe New Republic thinks the Tennessee Democratic Party may have no other choice but to heavily recruit and back the country singer:
He’s been floating the idea for a few years now, but with the recent thrashing of lawyer Bob Tuke by Lamar Alexander in last month’s senate race, Tennessee Dems have been casting about desperately for a high-profile Democrat not named Harold Ford to take on Bill Frist, who is almost certainly going to run. And they could do a lot worse, I suppose, than the Indian Outlaw. Which is saying something.
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A New Forrester Order
Posted on November 26, 2008 at 10:58 amR. Neal reports that current state Democratic Party treasurer Chip Forrester has 33 of 37 of the Executive Committee votes he’ll need to succeed Gray Sasser as chair if the Party. An excerpt from Forrester’s letter to committee members:
I envision a new order at the Party: inclusiveness of the State Executive Committee Members in decision-making at the Party, transparency so all Democrats in Tennessee can be a meaningful part of the Party, a 95-county strategic plan to involve dedicated Democrats at the county level and a plan to translate the energy, enthusiasm and excitement of all those who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign here in Tennessee into direct efforts to elect Democrats to “Take Back the House” in 2010.
I am continuing to visit other Members and we are well on our way to a majority. I want to include you in this group. Let me know if I can count on your support as a part of this “Majority to Lead.” Let me know if I can add you to the “YES” column.
SEE ALSO: Braisted
UPDATE 12:30PM: Forrester is now up to 35 commitments.
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