Tennessee state Rep. Stacey Campfield, the Knoxville Republican who was the first member of the state legislature to write a regular blog, has a good post regarding Nashville Republican campaign consultant Ward Baker, who may have single-handedly helped the GOP keep from losing any state House seats during the November election. The Tennessee GOP largely bucked the national anti-Republican tide in November, with Bob Corker winning the race to replace Bill Frist in the U.S. Senate while, at the state level, Republicans lost only one seat in the state Senate (when a Democrat-turned-Republican was defeated for re-election) and maintained their current number of seats in the state House.
Even though the Tennessee Democratic Party had the national tide in its favor, and even though the Tennessee Democratic Party had a widely popular incumbent governor who defeated a little-known and underfunded GOP challenger by a 70-30 margin, and even though the Democratic incumbent governor and the Tennessee Democratic Party campaigned heavily and spent heavily on several key state legislative races, they failed to unseat a single Republican House incumbent or win a single targeted House race. That Gov. Phil Bredesen could win by 40 points and yet have no coattails is due, in part, to Ward Baker.
» The State, The Baker, And The Candlestick Maker from Volunteer Voters
Bill Hobbs over at the ad-filthy Elephant Biz lays the Tennessee Republican Party's standing firm in the midterm elections at the doorstep of Ward Baker: Even though the Tennessee Democratic Party had the national tide in its favor, and even... [Read More]
Tracked on: December 13, 2006 11:10 AM | Permalink to Trackback