Posted on 02/03/2006 5:58:03 PM PST by mcg2000
HUMBOLDT, Tenn. (AP) - Democratic state Senator Don McLeary of Humboldt switched parties this afternoon to the Republicans.
The change will give Republicans an edge of 18-to-15 in the Senate.
McLeary said it was a hard decision, but his heart tells him it's the right one.
McLeary is the only person to file for candidacy in the his district, which covers Madison, Gibson and Carroll counties. He said it's not titles that are important, but actions.
I wish there were a website where one could check out the party switches. It seems to me they're only news when it's R to D.
GOOD NEWS IN TENNESSEE! That's one more seat that Democrats are from retaking the state Senate.
*pinging* my fellow TN friends
"TN Democrat (Senator) McLeary Switching to Republican Party"
McLeary's switch is almost entirely due to the problems that Auntie Ophelia Ford's presence in the Senate is causing. He was the sole Democrat to vote to remove her from the seat that was STOLEN on her behalf, and got a lot of grief over it and was attacked (in court, as well !) as a racist. The state 'Rat party is paying a very high price to keep Auntie seated, and will ultimately sink her nephew Junior's Senate candidacy.
If we seat the REAL winner of the Auntie Ophelia contest, the margin will go to 19R-14D. Remember, folks, BOTH the Senate and House are gerrymandered to preserve a 'RAT majority, and after 4 decades (post Baker v Carr), they can no longer halt the realignment. All we need are 4 seats in the House and the grown-ups will finally be in charge.
McLeary's district does not look all that Dem friendly in any event.
I'm not from Tennessee, so I don't know where the Ophelia Ford situation stands. Has she been seated, or is there still a vacancy?
Algore is deeply saddened.
There are a few who switch from D to R (or I as in the cas of Jumpin Jim Jeffords), but their numbers are much fewer than R to D.
I would be satisfied with an honest election, regardless of the winner.
She is somewhat in limbo. She filed a lawsuit in federal court with a judge picked by her brother (Harold Ford Sr), claiming racism (of course) to prevent the state senate from removing her from the seat and calling for a new election. There is serious doubt that the federal judiciary has any say in the matter whatsoever as the state constitution gives the Senate the sole power to determine it's membership.
he coulda been contender had he not followed the dark side
She is a sitting Senator... for how long, remains the question.
Good news! Thanks for the post.
Judging by the small snapshot of this article, it sounds like State Senator Don McLeary "gets it".
Welcome aboard Don!
We should get a Republican, since they have a 1 vote majority there. Then maybe we can talk Terry into running against John Tanner for the US House seat in the fall.
Although I believe Mr. Rowland won the seat, if the election is voided, I can't see it being right to seat EITHER candidate in the seat.
When the Dems lose again later this year you will see this happen more often. What does the Democratic pary have to offer conservative Democrats or even moderate Democrats? A platform straight from the Daily Kos and the Democratic Underground? There is no power left in the party, they are openly anti American, anti Soldier, anti Family, and of course the easy one, Anti-Bush.
They are so warped they ran an anti-war re-tred from the 60s for President during a war and then still can't figure out why he didn't win. Some are so kooky they believe he really did. (I am tempted to get a bumper sticker that says "I vote Diebold") I agree with Michael Savage, modern liberalism has become a mental disorder and the ship is clearly sinking and the exodus from the political death trap of the Democratic party will increase.
What I worry about is opportunity switchers. Back in my home town there was a local candidate that ran and ran as a Republican and couldn't win an office. He switched to Democrat won easily. This was in WV about a decade ago before it had seriously begun to turn red.
Now did Prunty change? No he is still as conservative as ever. He even proposed the following:
"A West Virginia legislator has introduced a bill that would require public schools to teach creationism alongside evolution. The measure proposed by Del. Paul E. Prunty, a Democrat, would require all public schools to "give balanced treatment to creation science and evolution science, in classroom lectures, in textbook materials, in library materials and in other educational programs in public schools to the extent that the lectures, textbook materials, library materials and educational programs deal in any way with the subject of the origin of man, life, the earth or the universe."
Would you know that this breed of Democrat even exists anymore from the national party? This is like discovering a coelacanth the interesting thing is there is still many of these coelacanth Democrats especially in the African American community. You think it is bad now for the Democrats just wait till that group finally realigns.
Election stealing Democrat RAT BTTT
Watching the Opraphelia Show closely and find the lack of fortitude our Senate is displaying when they should have another election very dismaying. Further proof that the Dems hold all the power in Tennessee. Hard to believe that this was once a frontier territory settled through great hardships by extremely tough and tenacious individuals.
I don't know what's worse: letting the Dems run over the established government (with the help of that creep Wilder) or ...no, that's worst.
It's hard to get the Republican officials in this state to realize they ARE the majority party (at least in that they've been receiving a majority of the vote for state offices for 12 years now, even if the numbers don't translate to the % of the seats they should be winning), and many remain very timid, like an oppressed minority (which is truly what they have been since Reconstruction). The hesitation to act decisively in the Senate is partly due to the fact Wilder remains an impediment (and at least 1 or 2 RINOs can't be counted on to vote properly, either -- it's appalling that we had to rely on the now-former Democrat McLeary to move on removing Auntie O), and also that the Majority Leader has been threatened by a sitting federal judge, herself an unaccountable FordClintonista HACK. At this point, I say screw a new election (which is only going to be a replay of the same fraud and chicanery we saw in round #1) and seat the winner, Terry Roland. That should be the right and proper middle finger to the Fords, the HACK jurist (who ought to be indicted for judicial misconduct), and the corrupt-to-the-last-cell 'Rat party of TN.
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