A Breed Apart
Posted on August 7, 2008 at 7:16 amTim Chavez discusses why he shall cast his Williamson County vote for GOP insurgent Tom Leatherwood:
Again, none of these things Blackburn has done is against the law. But it is indicative of conduct that can easily grow into something worse when you leave a lawmaker in office too long. They are only human beings. It is impossible to resist the corruption of the system.
Conversely, Leatherwood in the state Senate showed himself as someone who purposely kept himself apart of the system. That didn’t make him a lot of friends among powerful Republican colleagues. But his first duty was to the people he represented, not his political party.
Then Leatherwood left quickly before becoming too much of a part of the system at the General Assembly. His conservative credentials are quite apparent. Yes, we obivously disagree on some big issues. But I believe Blackburn’s conduct is a warning sign, of someone too long in Washington. It is up to us as voters to open our eyes and sometimes save politicians from themselves.
SEE ALSO: MediaVerse
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Why Is Tom Leatherwood Running?
Posted on August 5, 2008 at 9:21 amNathan Moore doesn’t understand:
So, why is he really running? Perhaps it is part personal, and maybe it is part delusional. What we do know is that he has taken an effective Republican fundraiser out of the game and has helped win a congressional seat or two for the Democrats.
Thanks, Tom.
Running Down A Dream
Posted on August 4, 2008 at 6:42 amKen Whitehouse points out that a local race in Williamson County may help Rep. Marsha Blackburn put down the Tom Leatherwood insurrection in her district and preserve her future political aspirations:
Blackburn really isn’t running against Leatherwood at this point, she is running against her future. The Williamson County Sheriff’s race is a boon in this capacity.
It is no secret that she has her sights set on higher office, be it the U.S. Senate or the governor’s office. Should expectations hold and she wins Thursday’s primary, aspirations for a higher office would be greatly enhanced by a lopsided victory.
The area of the 7th congressional district that Blackburn counts on most is Williamson County. Before the Headley situation erupted, there was no compelling reason for Middle Tennessee Republicans to take part in the primary election. Because of Headley though, eight men are vying for his old job.
While there is only one name listed as the official Republican candidate, Jeff Long, all of the other candidates have identified themselves as either “conservative” or “Republican” even though they will not appear on the ballot that way.
What this means is that the Blackburn’s core constituency will be driven to the polls by eight men trying to replace a singing sheriff. It is a great opportunity for her to try to run up the score and quash further insurrection in her district.
Election Night Fever
Posted on August 1, 2008 at 5:30 pm(via Tom Guleff)
Leatherwood’s Pockets Get Fatter
Posted on at 3:53 pmBut so does Marsha Blackburn’s warchest:
Tom Leatherwood has reported a dramatic fundraising increase. He’s running against incumbent Marsha Blackburn in the Republican Primary for the seventh Congressional district. Leatherwood raised more than $33,000 in the month of July. That’s almost half as much as he reported for the entire second quarter.
Still, it’s $10,000 less than Blackburn raised in the same month, and war chest is much larger. She has more than $550,000 in cash on hand. Leatherwood has about $30,000 dollars to spend. His campaign has gone $41,000 in debt. Blackburn’s is still solvent, despite spending more than a million dollars so far.
Voting Like Marsha
Posted on at 11:27 amSome past presidents of the Memphis Area Association of Home Builders may have endorsed him due to Marsha Blackburn’s vote against the housing bill but Tom Leatherwood tells Mike Slater he would have done the same thing.
Marsha Blackburn Gets Crossways With Memphis Homebuilders Over Housing Bill
Posted on July 31, 2008 at 11:40 amThey have endorsed her opponent:
The 15 Past Presidents of the Memphis Area Association of Home Builders, whose names you find below, ask that you vote against Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn in the upcoming primary election.
When President Bush signed the Housing Stimulus Act into law, months of concerted effort by many groups and individuals culminated in an important victory for homebuilders. A victory desperately needed by those of us in the beleaguered housing industry. This piece of legislation holds real promise to revive our struggling industry and may determine whether some of the businesses which belong to our association survive the current downturn.
While we are elated at the passage of this bill we are very disappointed that Marsha Blackburn chose to vote against it and our interests. Compounding our disappointment is the fact that members of MAHBA met with Congresswoman Blackburn on numerous occasions to explain in detail our support for this legislation.
Marsha Blackburn’s vote on this issue clearly demonstrates that we cannot count on her to look out for the interests of homebuilders or for those who rely upon the home building industry to earn their living. We need real friends in Congress, representatives who share our concerns and understand the importance of homebuilding to the economy. Congresswoman Blackburn does not deserve the support or votes of the members of MAHBA.
Please demonstrate your dissatisfaction with her vote against the Housing Stimulus Act by voting for Tom Leatherwood in the Republican primary.
Blackburn Really Doesn’t Have A Good Answer For TV Newsman
Posted on July 29, 2008 at 8:41 pmThe Watchdog Mike Matthews confronts Rep. Marsha Blackburn on her controversial mailer accusing her opponent Tom Leatherwood of supporting free health care for illegals:
Memphis Choke
Posted on at 9:03 amSue: “Dude, you don’t know what it’s like out here. I’m from L.A.”
Trent: “Anaheim.”
Sue: “Whatever, man.”~ Swingers (1996)
Smart City Memphis chastises Rep. Marsha Blackburn for her Memphis-bashing campaign tactics:
In keeping with her scorched earth political style, she attacks Mr. Leatherwood for being uppity enough to run against her, and in her tours of the 7th District, she tends to say he’s from Memphis as if the word almost chokes her. Actually, he lives in Arlington.
She blames Mr. Leatherwood’s entry into the race on the courthouse crowd in that dreaded Memphis, but it’s pretty hard to understand who that crowd would be since Democrats have taken charge of Shelby County Government and surely not even Mrs. Blackburn would accuse Mr. Leatherwood of being a pawn of those political interests.
All in all, it’s easy to understand why, during her years as a Tennessee Senator, her colleagues and her party’s leaders frequently granted themselves exemptions to the Republican Party’s 11th Commandment.
Blackburn Mails It In
Posted on July 28, 2008 at 10:01 amTom Leatherwood, the insurgent GOP challenger in District 7, attempts to correct his record on health care for illegal immigrants:
Marsha Blackburn has said that I would support “taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants.” This is absolutely not true and she knows it is not true. She is desperate and desperate people say and do desperate things. I am and always have been absolutely opposed to free health care for illegals or a nationalized (socialized) health care system.
If you would like to see the June 4th Commercial Appeal article she refers to on her mail piece, you can click on the link at the end of this article. You will notice that there are absolutely no statements about free healthcare for illegal immigrants. I have also provided a link to a letter to the editor which I wrote addressing the false information she and her staff began putting out weeks ago.
Tom Leatherwood May Have Had Better Sundays Than This One…
Posted on July 20, 2008 at 11:16 am…but, if so, he probably can’t remember them right now. Just as early voting for the August 7th primary starts to ramp up, Gannett’s man in Washington reveals the lobbying efforts of Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s son-in-law, Paul Ketchel:
Ketchel, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee, worked for former Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist from 1998-2001 as technology systems administrator. There he met Blackburn’s daughter, Mary Morgan. He then worked in government relations for a pharmaceutical company before striking out on his own as a lobbyist. He lobbied under the name Ketchel & Associates before going to work for the firm now known as American Capitol Group.
“I don’t feel that I should have to give up my career simply because my wife’s mother was elected to public office at a later time,” Ketchel said.
Blackburn was first elected in 2002 and began serving in 2003. The first lobbying reports mentioning Ketchel appear in May 2003.
SEE ALSO:
Truman Bean
Sharon Cobb
Commercial Appeal endorses Leatherwood
Leatherwood campaign ads
Right Wing Gun Group Supports Leatherwood Over Blackburn
Posted on July 18, 2008 at 7:22 amGun Owners of America, the gun rights group that makes the NRA look like a bunch of nanny state gun grabbers, has endorsed a Republican insurgent against his incumbent opponent:
Gun Owners of America, one of the nation’s leading advocates for the Second Amendment, has endorsed Tom Leatherwood in the race for the 7th District congressional nomination.
The group cited Leatherwood’s lengthy record of support for gun owners’ rights, and praised his commitment to protecting the 2nd Amendment rights of veterans.
GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt said Leatherwood’s opponent, incumbent Marsha Blackburn, “supported a bill that allows the government to ban certain veterans from purchasing firearms without judicial oversight. Leatherwood, on the other hand, will support the ‘Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act,’ a bill that protects veterans’ rights.”
Leatherwood Trails Blackburn By 11%
Posted on July 8, 2008 at 5:10 pmTom Leatherwood went to Ethridge and Associates, LLC and got some numbers did up on his race against Congressman Marsha Blackburn:
According to the results of a districtwide poll taken on June 28 and 29, Leatherwood trails 37% to 48% districtwide. This shows a net gain for Leatherwood of 16 points compared to a March survey in which he trailed by 30% to 57%. In Shelby County, where both candidates are well known, Leatherwood leads 55% to 30%, a positive swing of 29 points from the March poll that showed him trailing 40% to 44%.
SEE ALSO:
The full report
Swing State Project
Blackburn Points Out “Regional Differences”
Posted on July 7, 2008 at 9:46 amJonathan from Memphis is not seeing the wisdom in Congressman Marsha Blackburn’s recent campaign strategy against her primary challenger, Tom Leatherwood:
The efforts of the Blackburn campaign to demonize Tom Leatherwood with references to associations with Memphis and the contempt expressed by the ethics trainer plays into the worst kind of stereotyping. When politicians use Memphis to divide and conquer the electorate, it smacks of racism.
SEE ALSO:
Tim Chavez
Truman Bean
Left Wing Cracker
Rex In The City
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Salt Lake Strategery
Posted on June 25, 2008 at 5:57 pmTom Leatherwood, Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s upstart GOP challenger in the 7th Congressional District, sees a lot to like yesterday in the primary results out of Utah:
I encourage you to take a look at the results in yesterday’s Republican Primary in Utah’s 3rd Congressional District. In that race, the incumbent Republican Congressman was defeated 60% to 40%, despite outspending his challenger by almost $500,000.
This shows that money alone can’t save an incumbent congressman when a challenger has a strong issue working in their favor.
Incumbent Chris Cannon, first elected in 1996, was endorsed by President Bush and both of Utah’s Republican U.S. Senators. Cannon spent more than $760,000 compared to the victorious Jason Chaffetz, who spent just $175,000.
Congressional Quarterly’s on-line report cited “the failure of Cannon to generate the kind of turnout typically enjoyed by House incumbents.” Cannon was criticized for his support of comprehensive immigration reform, an unpopular position in that district.
Here in Tennessee’s 7th District, Blackburn faces a similar challenge. The Leatherwood campaign finds that voters disapprove of incumbent Blackburn’s pattern of violating Federal Election law and her funneling more than $350,000 in campaign funds to family members.
Tom told me that this election sends to Washington the same message he wants to send, “For Republicans to regain our majority, we have to reform the way we do business in Washington. That means holding our own accountable and replacing them when they lose their way.”
Geography also played a role in the Chaffetz victory. He carried Salt Lake County, his home county and the largest in the district, with 63% of the vote. In the 7th District, Leatherwood’s home of Shelby County accounts for more than 50% of the Republican Primary vote in non-gubernatorial years.
The Blackburn Campaign Tries To Root Out A Snitch
Posted on June 11, 2008 at 8:38 amA Marsha Blackburn campaign volunteer, who requested “volumnious” public documents and emails regarding Congressman Blackburn’s primary opponent Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood, wants to know how a newspaper got wind of his request.
It would seem the volunteer did not appreciate the violation of privacy. Open record requests, of course, are just as open as the record being sought:
In April, a volunteer for Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s campaign asked for thousands of pages of documents about Republican primary challenger and Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood, including all county e-mails since 2001.
After The Commercial Appeal wrote about the request, the campaign volunteer, Tyler E. Jones, asked the county for the name and job title of the person who received the request and provided the information to The CA.
Jones said he was interested in finding out how the newspaper “learned about my open-records request.”
In a response dated May 28, Asst. County Atty. Craig E. Willis informed Jones that all record requests are also public records. He went on to say that Jones’ followup letter did not meet the criteria for a records request under Tennessee code.
SEE ALSO: Grantham Is Talking
Leatherwood Reacts To Frist’s Blackburn Endorsement
Posted on May 28, 2008 at 10:43 amCongressman Marsha Blackburn’s insurgent challenger, Tom Leatherwood, has reacted to yesterday’s endorsement of Blackburn by former Senator Bill Frist:
I’m disappointed that Bill Frist would endorse the unethical behavior and ineffectiveness of my opponent by getting involved in this Republican primary, however it is his choice. I’ve always known that my victory would depend on whether or not rank and file Republican primary voters believe issues of integrity and effectiveness are important.
While many families are struggling to pay for gas and groceries, incumbent Blackburn has funneled over $300,000 from campaign and PAC accounts to her daughter and son-in-law. They received $46,935 for “campaign work” leading up to Blackburn’s 2004 victory, in which she didn’t have an opponent in the primary or general elections.
While many Tennesseans are unable to afford vacations this summer, she has allowed special interests to “privately finance” over $100,000 of travel during her tenure, to places such as Fort Walton Beach, Aspen, Las Vegas, Chicago, California, and more. This is one of the ways that special interest groups gain influence in Washington.
The price of gas, groceries and vacations do not greatly affect incumbent Blackburn or others who are a part of the money and power culture of Washington D. C. However, they are very important to me and most other Tennesseans.
It is ludicrous for anyone to say she has been effective on the major issues facing our nation. Can anyone seriously look at the problems in our country today and say any of the incumbents in D. C. have “effectively” addressed them?
Since I entered this race, I’ve always known that my victory depends on rank and file Republican voters who feel disenchanted with the ineffectiveness and lack of integrity in our party’s leadership.
This is the same party that once held a majority in both houses of Congress, and recently lost all three of the special elections held for House seats. I believe Republican primary voters know we need effective conservative leaders in the Republican Party– those who will lead with integrity and the drive to accomplish objectives, rather than just talking about them.
Interestingly, Lamar Alexander’s campaign folks relay to Post Politics that Tennessee’s senior Senator told Congressman Blackburn months ago that he would support her re-election and has contributed to her campaign.
I don’t remember seeing a presser touting that endorsement. Is Bill Frist’s endorsement more valuable in a GOP primary than Lamar’s or did the press release just get past me?
Bad News: Blackburn Feels The Need To be Endorsed
Posted on May 27, 2008 at 2:12 pmThe City Paper reports today that former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will announce his endorsement for Congressman Marsha Blackburn’s reelection later today.
Is this good news for Blackburn or her challenger Tom Leatherwood?
If Blackburn feels the need to “announce” the endorsement of Frist does that not indicate she feels that she may have her hands full with Leatherwood? Should not a Frist endorsement be implicit? Shouldn’t it be a given?
Also what does this mean for the Gubernatorial race? If this endorsement was solicited to occur before the primary and Frist does intend to run for Governor would he not use this endorsement as chit to keep Blackburn out of the 2010 primary?
Or has the Leatherwood challenge and her FEC problem already dashed those hopes?
UPDATE: Responsible observations of responsible observations by Jackson Baker
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