Posted on 02/16/2006 3:46:25 PM PST by Amish
Two GOP Congressmen announce today they are not seeking re-election.
Google the news for details.
Republicans outnumber Dems 2 to 1 in Hefley's district. No change.
Those are both red states, yes? You would think the GOP would be able to replace them.
Ping!
Both districts are GOP leaning. The Dems have recruited an Iraqi War Veteran (in the Murtha mold)to run in the CO district.
"The Dems have recruited an Iraqi War Veteran (in the Murtha mold)to run in the CO district."
There is gonna be a lot of that going around.
Agreed, in fact as to both districts. The Jenkins district in fact has not elected a Democrat since 1860 or so. The young men who volunteered to fight in the Civil War from that part of Tennessee, traveled north to join the army, rather than south.
There is something of a problem in the name of Nathen vaughn. He is black and Democrat but extremely level headed and well liked. He served for many years on a city council and excelled at common sense hard fiscal decisions.
I do not support him and in fact tagged him a Goreon which was probably unfair. He's better than that.
The first thing he did on getting elected to the Tennessee House was join the black caucus and become tainted with the stench of the Black Memphis political crooks even tho they are 550 mile away.
He will not say yet if he will run but might prove a little stronger than the usual hacks the rats dredge up for the token run here in the 1st District.
Meanwhile, the Republican hacks are jumping out of the wood work. I've seen no one mentioned today that is worth a damn.
The 1st last went Democrat in 1878. The 2nd (containing Knoxville) is one of the most penultimate GOP districts in the nation, and was previously Whig. It last elected a Democrat in 1852. In 1969, 32-year old Bill Jenkins was the only person ever to serve as a GOP House Speaker since Reconstruction to date when following Baker v. Carr in the early '60s netted the GOP a 49-49 split (with 1 independent, who refused to take a side and preferred to take a nap) in the House. Jenkins persuaded a Black Knoxville Democrat to support him, and he was elected 50 to 48. After serving one term, he vacated his seat (the Democrat narrowly got control for the 1970 election, and have gerrymandered the districts ever since to ensure majority status, despite having surrendered majority status amongst the voters for close to a dozen years), and ran for Governor, losing the nomination to Winfield Dunn, who would go on to win. Had Jenkins won, I'm sure he probably would've been a much higher-profile figure in TN politics (probably would've ended up in the Senate by the '80s). He's done a good job and we TN Republicans wish him well in his retirement.
In the GOP race to succeed Joel Hefley, El Paso County Sheriff John Wesley Anderson is already running. Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera and state Senator Doug Lamborn are possible candidate.
In the GOP race to succeed Bill Jenkins of Tennessee, state Claims Commissioner is already running. Thinking of running are state Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, state Senator David Davis, state Representative Steve Godsey, and Appalachian Regional Commission Chairwoman Ann Pope.
Democrats are not serious factors in these districts.
It will be decided in the GOP primary, which could be a real carnival. Unless the rules have changed recently, there is no runoff in the primary; a plurality, no matter how small, takes the nomination. Jenkins won the 1996 primary (replacing Jimmy Quillen, who retired after 17 terms) with 18% of the vote in an 11-way battle. But once he got the nomination, the powers of incumbency meant that he had the seat locked up for as long as he wanted it.
Jenkins is stepping down from an utterly safe seat at the relatively young age of 69. Self-imposed term limit? Health problems?
Nathan Vaughn was a bit of a fluke, anyhow, winning a GOP legislative district largely because of the situation involving the now-deceased fmr Rep. Keith Westmoreland and the bitter infighting to get a GOP successor. I had heard that many local Republicans tried to get Vaughn to switch parties to ensure he could stay in the seat as long as he wishes, though that became moot once he managed to win reelection as a Democrat.
I can almost guarantee if he ran for Congress, especially being anchored down with Harold Ford, Jr. as the Senate nominee, he'll lose big. It's interesting how those jumping into the race read almost exactly like a retread of when Jimmy Quillen retired in 1996. Rep. Stacey Campfield, who is our sole legislative blogger, seems to think that Rep. David Davis is the best of the bunch so far. The worry is that the horrid uber-RINO pro-income tax apostate Zane Whitson may jump in and take advantage of the fact that the rest of the field is mostly Conservative. With no runoff, a candidate could conceivably get 10% and be nominated for the general. Even Bill Jenkins won in '96 with only 18% of the vote, beating his nearest competitor, Sen. Jim Holcomb, by only 300 votes (who also received 18%).
kind of bites open seats become better chances for opposition takeover
How much is known about Ann Pope, who ran in 1996 and may do so again?
You can take Ron Ramsey off the list. He wants to be the first TN GOP Lieutenant-Governor ever come next January, which looks highly likely.
"The Dems have recruited an Iraqi War Veteran (in the Murtha mold)to run in the CO district."
"There is gonna be a lot of that going around."
Let's see now...... Who was that other War Vet that the Dems ran?....Hmmmm.....oh yeah, John Kerry, that's who it was. Gee, this strategy scares me. (Sarc.)
I don't know much beyond her current job title. As I wrote above, it looks like half the contestants will be retreads from 1996.
DJ, I found a bio of Anne Pope:
http://www.arc.gov/index.do?nodeId=9
She's a looker (which means someone has to post her picture).
I'd be very wary of supporting someone from Scumquist's cabinet. Scummie succeeded in pushing me to vote for his Democrat opponent in '98.
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