Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Although speculation about Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee as a 2008 presidential candidate has faded in the last year, the governor on Monday declined to rule out a run for the White House if he is re-elected this year. Asked if he could look Tennessee voters in the eye and tell them he would not run for president in 2008 if they vote for him in November, Bredesen said, “I believe I can today ... I honestly believe today that there’s no place in there for me for that.” But Bredesen, 61, stopped short of completely closing the...

The recent flurry of speculation about Phil Bredesen becoming a presidential candidate - the next Bubba, as a Wall Street Journal headline suggested - is both understandable and sheer fantasy. Yes, the New Republic may report that he is "quietly reaching out through his surrogates to potential allies in the event he decides to run" for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Bredesen says that is totally incorrect and "nobody who is aligned with me" has done anything along those lines. He has no intent. He has no plans. Then again, a politician never says never about a future presidential possibility....

Trap-shooting rarely qualifies a candidate for public office, but, in 2002, it helped decide the Tennessee governor's race. Sometime that summer, a range owner in eastern Tennessee got wind that both candidates--former Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and Representative Van Hilleary, a Republican--were avid hunters. As a way to bring his range a little publicity, he challenged the candidates to what he called the Great Tennessee Trap Shoot, to be held over the Labor Day weekend. A souped-up version of skeet, trap involves shotgunning clay pigeons from a variety of positions as they hurtle through the air. In other...