2014 A.D. — Alexander the Barely Mediocre
Posted on 12/18/2013 9:41:40 AM PST by don-o
Lamar Alexander isn’t a judge, but his re-election campaign is looking more and more like a retention election. Given the underfunded and invisible campaign of his opponent, Joe Carr, the campaign looks like Alexander is running against himself.
Any time an incumbent’s favorability rating drops below 50 percent it spells trouble, and in Sen. Alexander’s case his negatives are not being driven by negative campaign ads by his opponent. His opponent’s ads are virtually non-existent. The low approvals are being driven by Alexander himself and his Senate colleagues. Two polls last week have Alexander below 50 percent. One from a Democratic opponent might be suspect, but Alexander’s alma mater, Vanderbilt, also had him below 50 percent in a poll.
I’m told there is another a poll requested by some out-of-state Super PACs to judge Carr’s viability and it has Carr closer than you would think possible. And he is reportedly ahead in some areas of West Tennessee. Take that with a grain of salt, but it is not out of line with the other polls.
Alexander’s actions of late seem, well, bizarre.
Why would any Republican running in a primary in Tennessee, who claims to be a conservative, co-sponsor a bill with California’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Diane Fienstein? She’s the principal architect of all Senate gun control bills. But Alexander has joined with her to pass a law to forbid cell phone calls on airplanes. In what universe does a conservative decide that the government needs to get between a private business (an airline) and its customers? The airlines will do what their customers want; we don’t need the government to interfere. Even if you don’t want to be bothered on your trips back and forth to Washington.
How many unnecessary laws are there, prompted by the personal pique of a legislator?
Here, locally, we have a situation where retired federal judges are being trucked in to handle case loads because of a vacant judgeship. Knoxville attorney Pam Reeves is closing out her practice and sits waiting to be confirmed. So Alexander puts a hold on confirming federal judge appointments in order to play an inside-the-beltway game with Majority Leader Harry Reid. Any consideration of the situation back home takes a back seat to scoring points in the Senate club.
Alexander can blame Reid, but Reeves was on a consent calendar for automatic appointment and Alexander objected so Republicans could make a point about the changes in the filibuster rule.
It certainly doesn’t do Alexander any good to have his chief of staff arrested for child pornography. One wonders if Alexander’s familiarity with his staff is like his familiarity with the folks back home—sketchy and disconnected.
The National Journal reports that the Club for Growth doesn’t think state Rep. Carr is a viable candidate. Don’t know if that assessment was made and reported before the recent polling or not. Carr has done little to show himself an outstanding candidate, but given his money situation maybe he can’t. There are two big questions in this race: Will the Super PACs come in? And does Carr have to do anything other than not be Alexander?
I think the answer to the second question is that Carr will have to demonstrate that he is a credible person capable of handling the job. People may be ready to vote no on Alexander’s retention, but they have to be reassured that the alternative is not a mistake.
I think the thing that makes conservative PACs reluctant to take on Alexander is his $3 million in the bank and the knowledge he can raise more if need be. That also makes the prospect of a Democratic challenger problematic, given the state of the Democratic Party in Tennessee these days.
It would seem likely that the winner of the Republican primary would still win in Tennessee, whether it’s Alexander or Carr. And the betting line is still on Alexander. But he is vulnerable and no one seems to know that better than Alexander. He has spent weeks getting around the state raising money and discouraging opposition.
He does well when he is here. The problems arise when he goes back to Washington.
I keep hearing that Joe Carr is "not credible" because he has no money. If you would like to help facilitate Lamar's! retirement
Just make sure you don’t replace him with a looney Dem.
We proved in Indiana that the MSM is locked and loaded to take out any Tea Party candidate who flushes a RINO.
“Any time an incumbent’s favorability rating drops below 50 percent it spells trouble, and in Sen. Alexander’s case his negatives are not being driven by negative campaign ads by his opponent. His opponent’s ads are virtually non-existent”
And Lamar’s primary is the last one. As the trend goes, so goes Lamar. If we start throwing incumbents out of office or forcing runoffs in primaries, Lamar will probably be swept out of office.
However, if the establishment succeeds in protecting their own, Lamar will probably be safe.
But in any case, being under 50% approval at this point does not look good for him.
Joe Carr is who we have. I had hopes that Marsha Blackburn would run, but she is all in for Lamar!
I believe Carr is solid on the issues; but I worry about his depth of knowledge and experience handling the tough questions. (That Akin fiasco in Ark comes to mind.)
Some have said that Tennessee is not a conservative state. Judging on what we have sent to Washington, it’s possible that is true.
However, the Pubbies do control both houses in Nashville and the governorship. And we are 7-2 Republican in the H of R.
Lamar Alexander and Mitch McConnell will be so unpopular by primary season that if their opponents just shut up and run against them, the challengers should win.
Of course, the Leftist media will do their dirty tricks and try to get the Tea Party conservatives to talk about women’s body parts, something that should be strenuously avoided at all costs. (When asked about contraception, for example, the conservative should immediately respond with,” What does this have to do with the 90 TRILLION dollars of unfunded liabilities that this nation has saddled the next three generations with?”)
BTTT
I suspect if there are a few more polls showing Carr closing the gap, the Senate Conservatives Fund and some of the other groups may take a second look.
Poll numbers + Bank account. I have donated twice and bought an ipad to work the ground game.
“Some have said that Tennessee is not a conservative state. Judging on what we have sent to Washington, it’s possible that is true. However, the Pubbies do control both houses in Nashville and the governorship. And we are 7-2 Republican in the H of R.”
Also voted overwhelmingly against the None in 2012, 59.48% (Romney) to 39.08% (the None).
There is one congressman that if his son had not been caught up in some trouble could have easilly taken on Alexander and won. Jimmy Duncan could have done it. He has the name and money. He's far more conservative than Alexander ever was on issues even when it means going against party RINO leadership and that's what we need.
The problem this years is his liberalism has not been quiet, it has been loud and in your face and people are more pissed of at him than usual.
For once voting for Lamar is not the lesser of 2 evils....he is the evil.
Jimmy Duncan....what part of Tennessee does he come from?
No doubt. I cancelled my subscription a few years ago. I tell anyone who will listen, as soon as you fire McElroy, I will re-subscribe. Assuming they do a better job, this time.
I agree. He comes out at election time with his fake populism and goes back to RINO land.
Remember when he was running on “getting rid of the Dept. of Education” and getting more power back to the locals? This changed, of course, when Bush 41 made him Sec of Educ and all of a sudden it was the greatest federal agency known to man.
Then it was “cut their pay and send them home” talking about Congress. Now that he’s a senator, DC is just wonderful and “solves our problems” with “bipartisanship”, blah, blah, blah.
He’s as phoney as his plaid shirt.
East TN I believe.
Marsha Blackburn didn’t even understand why it is a bad idea to pass any immigration bills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtFhkqrstYQ
Some of these Superpacs dont even put a position on amnesty.
Graham and Cornyn have more money than Lamar and they at least talk big. Collins and Lamar have about the same amount and Collins is a lot safer.
East Tennessee {Knoxville}. His dad was Congressman John Duncan Sr known in the 1970's. Jimmy {John JR} is one of the more Conservative members of congress especially fisical. I'd take two dozen of him in the senate over Alexander or Corker any day.
I'd say their on line hits tanked as well. How many in East Tennessee want a subscription to read Ina Hughes or Pam Strickland's liberal propaganda he was putting in the on line Editorial Section? LOL. Not that Jack's editorials were any better than theirs LOL. Even Sam Venable half the time now is going off on some pro left wing tangent. I liked him as a outdoors writer. He should have stayed such. The only half way conservative writer I think they have now is Greg Johnson who seems to be Libertarian.
Look in the on line comments after the articles. Used to they had at least 50 closer to 200 comments on articles. Now it's usually less than ten and most have zero. I'm like you. When their quality and management changes for the better I'll pay for a paper again but not until then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.