The main event of last night was the Republican gubernatorial primary, which ended surprisingly quickly, with a convincing victory by Knoxville mayor Bill Haslam. Haslam, the ostensible ‘moderate’ in the race, benefited from not only his lots of his own money, but also from having the moderate side to himself and a conservative pile-up in opposition (and the fact that Tennessee has no runoffs). He defeated Rep. Zach Wamp and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey 47-29-22. (In one more parallel to the Michigan governor primary, Wamp, who said in his concession speech that “The best candidate doesn’t always win,” can now compete with Rep. Peter Hoekstra as to which one can be the douchiest loser.) Haslam is certainly favored against Dem Mike McWherter in November.
In the House races, there were extremely close GOP primaries in the TN-03 and TN-06 open seats In the 3rd, the somewhat less objectionable Chuck Fleischmann beat former state party chair Robin Smith 30-28. In the 6th, Diane Black won with 31, over fellow state Sen. Jim Tracy and crazed Islamophobe Lou Ann Zelenik (with both at 30). Black faces Dem Brett Carter, who won a similarly close race.
Two other GOP primaries were less close. In TN-08, for the right to face Roy Herron to succeed retiring John Tanner, Stephen Fincher won a surprisingly convincing victory over two self-funders, Ron Kirkland and George Flinn, 48-24-24. And in potential sleeper race TN-04, to face Lincoln Davis, Scott DesJarlais beat Jack Bailey 37-27.
The very last race card may have been played in TN-09. In the third straight slime-covered Dem primary here that was all about race, embarrassing former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton came up woefully short in his quest (predicated almost entirely on Herenton being black and Cohen being white, in a black-majority district) to unseat Rep. Steve Cohen, by a 79-21 margin. Somehow I don’t think this’ll be the last primary Cohen ever sees, but hopefully they’ll be about something other than race in the future.
Finally, the 15 minutes of fame for Basil Marceaux — whose flag has 49 stars because he’ll be dead in the cold cold ground before he recognizes Missourah — seem to be up, as the viral video hero got 0% in the Republican TN-Gov primary and 1% in the TN-03 primary.
Wamp is the fourth Rep. to lose a primary for Governor, after Artur Davis, Gresham Barrett, and Pete Hoekstra. Mary Fallin is the only one to succeed. And, of course, there was also Kay Bailey Hutchison.
here at my blog.
There is some interesting side information worth reading, I think.
Unless I am missing one, CO is the last really close statewide primary left in August. Alaska and Arizona seem destined for incumbent retention. NH is the only big one in September, unless I am leaving off something.
or was it TN-SH-29?
Granted, Zelenik is intense.
But if I recall, a few years ago, Islams confessed to blowing up the World Trade Centers in the name of Allah on a holy crusade (their word being “jihad.”)
I may not be an “islama-phobe,” but I definitely qualify as an “islama-wary.”
Wasn’t she the one who refused to fire her aide who had put out list of Presidents with Obama’s image replaced with that of a a minstrel/golliwog type face? If so, it was a race between a Muslim-baiting fascist, a racist tolerating Hispanic hating right-winger and a lame GOPer who got out-baited by the first two.
At this rate, I just dare the GOP to nominate a Southern Republican for national office again.