7/12/2005 09:57:00 PM|||Nathan Moore|||

Tennessee has more to offer our great nation, but our most recent contribution is well fleshed out here.

Of course, Miniter shows his lack of understanding of Tennessee politics, and the actual heat that Bredesen is taking for his actions. Portraying Bredesen as a Democrat with ideas on healthcare is a bit misleading, though likely unintentionally so. I still hold that Democrats are largely out of ideas. Bredesen has the standard preferred pedigree - a southern Democratic governor with prima facia conservative credentials (oh, how not long ago the pariah days of Democratic southern governors). But he is not a man of vision, or ideas of any significant sort. If anything, he is a man out of ideas, who can't manage to beat back a two-bit sit-in professional demonstration in his gubernatorial office.

We'll see. But like any commentary on local politics, the national guys have a hard time getting right. Sundquist as a poor choice and impending disaster is a no-brainer. Bredesen as a Democratic savior is simply a whammy.

|||112122347967502683|||National Attention7/13/2005 01:47:20 PM|||Bob K|||Nathan,
I left the below comment on Bill Hobbs' blog as well:

Not taking sides here, but here's how I think the average guy at the "lunch counter" sees it. He knows that nearly one-in-four Tennesseans are on TNcare. He thinks that's outrageous that we're using taxpayer dollars to pay for welfare medicine for that many people. He's further outraged that TNcare pays for dental and prescriptions, which he is probably paying for out of his own pocket. So in his mind slashing people from TNcare is reform.

Unless Republicans can explain how they can do it better and cheaper (in 25 words or less), then I think the Governor wins big on this issue with the average Tennessean.

7/13/2005 03:42:03 PM|||pessimisticly-Optomistic|||The best chance for Republicans to win in '06 may be for them to run to the left of Bredesen. Right now he is polling higher with White Republicans than he is with Black and Hispanic Democrats. If Republicans can convince Blacks and Hispanics they don't hate them (which may be hard with people like Phil Valentine) than perhaps they could pull an election victory.

But if they try to run from the Right of Bredesen, than they will most surely loose.