Cohen ads offer poll reminders, aims at GOP vote

Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 8/5/8 | Zack McMillin

[SmithL]

In his two most recent campaign commercials, 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen spends valuable seconds of airtime explaining a most mundane electoral process.

"You need to ask for a Democratic ballot on Thursday to vote for me," he says in the latest, created especially to run on Comedy Central's satirical late-night show, "The Colbert Report." He said the same thing in another spot, "Greatest Honor," and Memphis radio listeners have heard Cohen provide instructions in even greater detail.

In his attempt to run up votes in the Democratic primary contest against Nikki Tinker, Joe Towns Jr. and two other candidates, Cohen is not being subtle in urging those who might not normally request a Democratic ballot to do so and vote for him.

"The most obvious thing is there is no Republican in the general election," said Jerry Austin, Cohen's campaign manager. "That's the point. Basically, for Republicans in the 9th District, this is their general election for Congress."

The Tinker campaign continues to charge that it is Cohen's campaign, and not hers, that is pushing race-obsessed angles. While the Cohen campaign pushes its belief that Tinker is, as Austin has put it, "Running a one-note campaign: Vote for the black woman."

Former County Commissioner Walter Bailey, who appears in an ad mixing images of Cohen with the Ku Klux Klan criticizing Cohen for not voting to remove the statue and remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest from a Midtown park, said the Tinker campaign hopes people see through Cohen's campaign rhetoric.

Bailey said Cohen is reaching out to Republicans and "taking for granted that whites will support him" with ads showing prominent African Americans. "I read that as he's pandering to blacks and not running a balanced campaign. He's not running a campaign among whites," he said.

Early-voting returns show a massive disparity between voters casting Democratic ballots and those requesting Republican. An examination of statistics released by the Election Commission after early voting ended Saturday shows that of the 27,388 votes cast by 9th District voters, 22,522 selected Democratic ballots. That's 82 percent compared to 17 percent Republican; a tiny percentage requested neither.

In the other contested Congressional election in Greater Memphis, in the 7th District, challenger Tom Leatherwood of Arlington said he is resisting following a similar strategy by appealing to Democrats who might relish seeing the defeat of incumbent Marsha Blackburn.

While Austin of the Cohen campaign said he does hear of Republicans crossing over for his candidate, Leatherwood, the Shelby County Register, has not heard much talk of Democrats supporting him.

Of the 9,224 votes cast in the 7th District from Shelby County, 6,960 (75.5 percent) selected Republican ballots vs. 2,174 Democratic (23.5 percent).

"I've heard people talk about crossover, but it is really hard to determine," he said.

Maybe more meaningful for Leatherwood is how those Shelby County numbers compare to counties closer to Blackburn's suburban Nashville base. In Williamson and Davidson Counties, 5,573 7th District voters requested Republican ballots.

[SmithL]

Republicans in the TN 9th may help decide which socialist goes to Congress. How special is that?

Actually, that sounds a lot like California.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Problem here is that Cohen always prided himself on being the single most far-left member of the TN legislature. He’s actually to the left of his majority Black constituency and Nikki Tinker. But it’s really the difference between somebody who votes 100% wrong (Cohen) vs. 95% wrong (Tinker).