TN US SENTATE: It's going to be one @#$%!#*$ of an election

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/opinion_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_364_1058190,00.html

By Tom Humphrey, News-Sentinel Nashville bureau March 31, 2002 Back when Lamar Alexander embraced an exclamation point, the Tennessee's plaid politician's campaign manager explained that the exclamatory Lamar! was intended to convey energy and excitement.

The campaign at that time was for president (the first run, 1996) and the manager, Dan Pero, once illustrated the sentiment to reporters with a deep-throated, almost guttural shout of "Lamar!'' while jabbing his fist. Sure was impressive!

Alas, it didn't help much. He went on to lose the Republican primary to Bob Dole, who - perhaps somewhat unfairly - spent a wad of money trashing Lamar! in New Hampshire as a tax-and-spend liberal.

Alexander was still a man in plaid, too, back then. His trademark red-and-black plaid shirt dates to his second run for Tennessee governor (1978), when he won. (He wore a coat and tie in the first, 1974, and lost to the considerably more earthy Ray Blanton.)

National media types occasionally ridiculed both the exclamation point - for example, swapping it for a question mark, as in "Lamar?'' - and the lumberjack shirt.' So, now Alexander has reentered the political arena at age 61 without plaid or punctuation. He wears suits and wire-rimmed spectacles. If he were to be punctuated, it would probably be Lamar$.

U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, who casts himself as considerably to the right of Alexander in the Republican Senate primary, probably should be Ed=>. Bryant, of course, would probably prefer to have his opponent as <=Lamar. Indeed, the former governor may point left as compared to the rightward tilting congressman, but he has money from the right, so it is submitted that Lamar$ is more appropriate.

Lame duck Gov. Don Sundquist has endorsed Lamar$ - apparently somewhat to the surprise of the latter and the delight of Ed=>. The value of this endorsement is something of a question mark, ergo, Don? Don? has not endorsed Jim Henry for governor, perhaps because of fears about the impact of Jim&Don?

On the other hand, the ample funding that Lamar$ enjoys from the aging GOP oligarchy probably offsets any downside to being blessed by Don? in the Senate primary. In fact, it could even be a + Henry, a longtime admirer of Lamar$, has not been endorsed by him, either. Both Don? and Lamar$ call him a friend, but they treat the former state House minority leader as something of an asterisk. So, Jim* Don? is apparently no big fan of either of the frontrunners in the race to succeed him as governor, Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Van Hilleary.

Bredesen, of course, has been walking a fine line lately - trying to appear conservative but not so conservative as to turn off less-than-conservative Democrats (remnant populations of liberals reportedly still inhabit isolated areas of the state.) Hilleary, meanwhile, accuses him of being wishy-washy on a state income tax.

So, Phil~Phil~ has sought to cast Hilleary, meanwhile, as inexperienced, unqualified and an otherwise generally suitable candidate for a dunce cap (^). Hilleary, on the other hand, presents himself as an upbeat sort of guy and that would also be ^. So, Van^ and choose your own interpretation.

The really astonishing thing about this year's Tennessee political picture is that Bob Clement, who has repeatedly retreated from statewide races in recent years, has now emerged as the Democratic consensus candidate for the U.S. Senate. Bob! Thus becomes an appropriate heir to the exclamation point abandoned by Lamar$.

Finally, while properly punctuating all the big name guys in the running this year, we should not forget the lesser lights of the state Legislature and those multiple candidates who want to join them in Nashville. For that lineup of guys and gals, let them all be known as #^%{$*(&]!">*%! For all their many accomplishments.

Tom Humphrey, chief of the News-Sentinel's Nashville bureau, may be reached at 615-242-7782 or humphrey@edge.net

Clement is a ghost, a wraith with no qualifications beyond memories of past Democrat greatness. He has never done anything worthwhile at all.

His presence indicates the bankruptcy of liberalism in Tennessee. The good conservative democrats are no more...they are are Republicans now.

Once the Republican primary is over, the Republican voters of Tennessee must unite to defeat Clement. Clement will enjoy the luxuary of not having to fight a primary opponent and the Democrat Party and Democrat voters in Tennessee will be united in complete solidarity.

Once the primary is over, we must get over petty bickering and work together to elect the Republican candidate to the U.S. Senate.

If we act like children and continue infighting because "our guy" didn't win, we will help Bob Clement get elected and help push Tom Daschle's liberal agenda. Then we could help welcome the the new Democrat President in 2004. Strange sounding, but it is very possible. Think of the consequences before threatening to "take the ball home" if you don't get your way.

That's right. Fight like hell for Bryant in the primary, but ultimately, just send us a damn Pubbie Senator, so we can confirm four good SCOTUS justices. It doesn't matter if you send a vegetable Senator to DC, as long as it's a Republican vegetable.

People accuse me of being a Bush shill, but as I see it, we need to give it this last effort. If we give the GOP both houses and the Presidency, and they still don't at least deliver us a SCOTUS that will uphold the Constitution, that's the time to start talking mutiny.

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