Bob Tuke’s McWherter Endorsement Implication

By Kleinheider Posted on June 1, 2008 at 2:36 pm

Sean Braisted notes that in the same campaign email where Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bob Tuke hails his victory in an online poll as an “organizing test”, the campaign also attempts to subtly imply the endorsement of popular Governor Ned Ray McWherter.

Tuke met with Governor McWherter in West Tennessee this week. Tuke and Governor McWherter are old friends, and they talked in detail about how to beat Lamar Alexander in November. Both left the meeting feeling energized about how the Tuke v. Alexander match-up is coming together and they agreed that it’s time to “Take the Hill” on Election Day!

Now as Sean notes, the McWherters, both former Governor Ned and son, Mike, have donated to both Democratic candidates in the race and have issued no public endorsements. However, if one candidate did have a claim to be closer the “McWherter family” as it were, would it be Tuke or opponent Mike Padgett?

Mike Padgett and Gov. McWherter are both Hillary Clinton supporters serving on Clinton’s Tennessee Steering committee. Tuke served, until his announcement for the U.S. Senate, as Barack Obama’s Tennessee Political Director.

Speaking of the that steering committee list, another name would seem to jump out if one were going to play the “endorsement by association” game. Jed Brewer, currently the Padgett for Senate campaign manager, was also intimately involved in Mike McWherter’s abortive campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate this cycle as well as running the incumbent-slaying campaign of state Senator Lowe Finney, a McWherter cousin.

Of course, none of this implies McWherter family endorsement either but it does provide a little context to the Tuke campaign’s attempt to shade a sitdown with an aging former Governor as an endorsement of candidacy.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Bob Tuke, endorsement, Hillary Clinton, Jed Brewer, Lowe Finney, Mike McWherter, Mike Padgett, Ned Ray McWherter, Tennessee Senate Race