Mike Padgett Concedes To Bob Tuke, The Name You Know Claims Second

By Kleinheider Posted on August 7, 2008 at 10:22 pm

Tennessee’s one and onliest Southern Appalachian Democratic candidate congratulates the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Bob Tuke:

“My hearty congratulations go out to Bob Tuke tonight,” Mike Padgett said Thursday evening.

“Bob is a true Tennessee hero, and he ran a gentleman’s campaign. I have offered him my full support because we both understand how important it is to working Tennesseans that Bob bring Lamar Alexander home.”

The big story out of this race, however, is the out of nowhere, unknown upstart candidate Gary Davis.

With little fundraising and literally no media attention until tonight, Davis outpolled two candidates who were considered “legitmate” by the mainstream and citizen media by virtue of money and position and came within 10% of the current nominee. The question is: how?

Is the Davis story a triumph of an underground, stealthy grassroots campaign? Is it an example of a rare victory for the little guy against big money and big media?

Or is the explanation more troubling? Did Davis’s voters believe that they were voting for one of the two sitting Congressmen in the state, Lincoln Davis and David Davis, with the same surname?

A look at the map leads one to believe that Tennessee may have just had its own statewide theatrical version of the Distinguished Gentleman.

Davis, “the name they knew“, seems to have trumped everything: money, organization and just plain common sense.

A sad commentary on the political savvy of the Tennessee voter.

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Associated Press

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Tags: David Davis, gary Davis, Lincoln Davis, Mike Padgett, The Distinguished Gentleman