Blogging for Bryant has a good post and commentary on the sheer oddity of Van Hilleary’s “message” in this primary (I use scare quotes purposely)

I have heard all three candidates speak on several occasions. Bryant and Corker always talk about their qualifications for office. Hilleary, on the other hand, always starts by spinning his loss to Governor Bredesen in ‘02 as a positive, then he rails against “wobbly kneed Republicans.” That’s all fine and good. I’m no fan of “wobbly kneed Republicans” myself, but I would remind Hilleary that the reason he was the first Republican to lose statewide in TN since before 1994 is because he couldn’t get the support of those so-called “wobbly-kneed Republicans.”

Absolutely. When you have to start off by spinning a loss that you should have won, the rest of your message is on wobbly ground. It’s my recollection that the reason Van is not governor today is not because he couldn’t get the “wobbly kneed” Republican vote, but because he failed to get the conservative Republican vote.

The Republican nominee in the ‘06 U.S. Senate race will need the support of ALL Republicans to be successful. Hilleary likely declined to run for Governor again in ‘06 because he couldn’t garner the Republican support necessary to defeat Bredesen. Why would we want to nominate a candidate for U.S. Senate who’s still got fences to mend within the Republican party leftover from the ‘02 Governor’s race? Unfortunately, Van Hilleary is an electorally impaired candidate unable to win statewide in Tennessee.

You know who would appeal to all Republicans in the general election, as well as independents and some Democrats? That’s right – Bob Corker, who needs not apologize by facing East every morning on a daily basis to the State of Tennessee for Phil Bredesen’s governorship.

UPDATE From an anonymous comment on the above B4B post

Ed couldn’t beat a wobbly kneed republican in a primary. I love how you take Van out of context. What you never seem to mention is that Ed puts people to sleep, Corker has no passion and he recites from rote what he thinks republican primary voters want to hear. Its Van that gets most of the applause and the best reaction from people who are actually attendees.

Yes, they are applauding because he is finished, as his stump speeches average about 90 minutes, affected only by the phase of the moon. The fuller the moon, the longer and louder the speech.

Sometimes Ed gets on the stump and talks about the Civil War …what is that about??? Among other rambling that come out of Ed’s mouth.

You see, the Civil War was this war we fought between North and South 140 years ago, that significantly affected our national character and political landscape, and whose reverberations are still felt to this day. It was kinda important. Like, it was a war where 620,000 people died, you schmuck.

Ed talks about prosecuting the Fords well he quit b/c it was too hard and he got smacked around by Monica Lewinsky on national television but that doesn’t stop him from constantly talking about two experiences that some could say would cast him as a loser and a quitter

This is a blatant mischaracterization of Ed Bryant. I may be a Corker guy, but I like Ed a lot, too. Some would say such a statement signifies a complete misunderstanding of both situations. A “loser” and a “quitter”? A Van supporter talking about losing? Please.

Also, I find it amusing that it wasn’t until after Corker and Ed observed the amount of applause that Van was getting on the illegal immigration issue that they started incorporating it into their speeches.

Yes, this proves that Van is a leader.

I don’t know who told Bob Corker that Republican primary voters care about affordable housing …although he has tweaked his mayoral styled speech to be better suited to a Senate candidate he still has no idea what it means to be a conservative and what we believe in and it comes across as rehearsed and phony in his speech.

Try listening first. This is obviously someone who is not listening to what Corker is saying, and who knows nothing about the man.

Evidently, someone has been drinking the kool aid, and ought to be glad they post as “anonymous”.