Posted on 07/30/2002 12:18:34 PM PDT by Coop
Senior House Republicans are rallying around their conservative colleague, Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.), in his campaign against his more moderate primary opponent, former Gov. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
The two will square off on Aug. 1 for the right to take on the presumptive Democratic nominee, Rep. Bob Clement (Tenn.), in what will no doubt be a hotly contested race to succeed retiring Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.).
Nine House Republicans, including House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Texas), House Conference Chair J.C. Watts (Okla.), Chief Deputy Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Financial Services Chair Michael Oxley (Ohio), and two senators have contributed a combined $37,000 to Bryant’s campaign.
“Ed is a classmate,” Watts said when asked why he donated $1,000 to Bryant’s campaign. “I’ve been in for him two times. I’ve been pretty fortunate because I’m for somebody, not because I’m against somebody. When he asked me, I felt compelled to give.”
Blunt added that he contributed because “he’s a friend of mine. I sit by him on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and he asked me to do it.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Sam Brownback, (Kan.) the torchbearer of the Christian Right, and former Rep. Steve Largent (Okla.), a national football star and gubernatorial candidate, and former Rep. Tom Coburn (Okla.) have all traveled to the Volunteer State to attend fundraisers for Bryant.
“Steve and Sam and Tom are all solid friends and conservatives,” Bryant said. “They’re people of like-mindedness and they certainly appeal to the majority of Tennesseeans who will be voting in this election.”
Sen. John Ensign (Nev.) made the single largest contribution — $10,000 — to Bryant’s campaign, while DeLay and Brownback contributed $5,000 each. Eight other members, Reps. Blunt, Watts, Oxley, Joe Barton (Texas), Dave Camp (Mich.), John Doolittle (Calif.), Jennifer Dunn (Wash.) and Jim McCrery (La.), donated between $500 and $4,000 a piece.
The Alexander campaign shrugged off Bryant’s congressional support.
“We have been concentrating on raising money in Tennessee during the primary,” Alexander spokesman Josh Holly said. “After the primary on Aug. 1, we’ll seek support from GOP leaders outside of Tennessee. [Bryant] has been working with [his colleagues] and it’s only natural that they would support him.”
But House Republicans are not the only conservatives angling to defeat Alexander, a former two-time presidential hopeful. Indeed, conservative groups such as the American Conservative Union, Club for Growth and Tennessee Right to Life have supported Bryant through contributions and endorsements.
Still, Holly dismissed the notion that Bryant leads among conservatives, pointing to recent polls that show that his boss enjoys support from Republican voters across the ideological spectrum.
He noted that Alexander holds traditionally conservative positions on “issues important to Tennesseeans,” such as abortion, taxes and gun rights, and that he earned his reputation as a moderate during the 1996 presidential race rather than during his time as governor.
Furthermore, Alexander is better poised to win in the general election than is Bryant, Holly added, pointing to recent polls that show Clement running behind Alexander but ahead of Bryant in a potential matchup in November.
“Part of what we need to do in the GOP primary is field our best candidate for the general election,” Holly said. “The only candidate in the GOP primary who has a proven record of winning statewide is Gov. Alexander.”
Bryant, a four-term lawmaker from suburban Memphis, has been at a slight fundraising disadvantage throughout the campaign, although he ended the latest fundraising quarter with more money in the bank than Alexander.
Alexander raised $1.5 million between April 1 and June 30 while Bryant raised just over half that — $856,000 — in the same time period. Nonetheless, each of them has about $600,000 on hand as they head into the last week of the primary campaign.
Bryant called his opponent’s fundraising figures a sign that the race has tightened in recent weeks, noting that voters are suffering from “Lamar fatigue” — a general sense of weariness over a candidate who has made successive bids for office since the late 1970s.
“One of the strengths of Lamar Alexander’s candidacy was his ability to raise money,” Bryant added. “There were projections that he would raise between $4 million and $5 million. So even by their standards, [his fundraising] was certainly not an impressive effort.”
Whoever wins next week’s primary will in all likelihood square off against Clement, a popular eight-term centrist from Nashville. Clement, who faces only token opposition for the Democratic primary nod, has benefited from the GOP’s bruising primary battle, using the time to raise money and his profile for the general election.
Clement — the son of the late Frank Clement, who served as senator and governor of Tennessee before he died suddenly in 1969 — has kept an aggressive campaign schedule since he kicked off his campaign in March.
And although both Alexander and Bryant have raised more than he has overall, Clement has stockpiled his campaign cash in preparation for the general election. At the end of June, he had $1.2 million in the bank — about twice the amount that either of his would-be Republican opponents reported.
Said his spokeswoman Carol Andrews: “The Republican primary has been very bitter and divisive and we’re benefiting some from that.”
Alexander had a 56 percent to 24 percent lead in the survey conducted byAyres, McHenry and Associates from July 18 to 22. It tested 600 likely primary voters with a 4 percent margin of error. Alexander had near universal name recognition (98 percent), while Bryant was known by 78 percent of those polled.
Both candidates carried solid favorable to unfavorable scores. Alexander was thought of favorably by 71 percent and unfavorably by 14 percent; Bryant had a 45 percent favorable to 8 percent unfavorable rating.
The latest Alexander poll is something of a departure from two other recent polls, one done by an independent entity and one for the Bryant campaign.
A poll conducted by Mason-Dixo nPolling/Media Research Inc. in early July showed Alexander with a 51 percent to 34 percent lead. A Bryant poll conducted by Public OpinionStrategies showed Alexander with a more narrow 49 percent to 37 percent lead.
Rep.BobClement (D) is the likely Democratic nominee.
Go Ed Go!! And when will the GOP learn to exclude non-GOPers from the Primaries...we just end up with that many more RINOS!!
FReegards...MUD
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