Free Republic

A fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Tennessee Theatre, a major event in an election that is drawing national attention. Those contributing will be "credited" for another event in Nashville on Thursday, Election Day, where former President Bill Clinton will join Ford at LP Field, the Titans' stadium, for a "road to victory" rally. The cost for the Knoxville reception is $150 as a patron, $1,000 as a sponsor and $5,000 as a host. Gov. Phil Bredesen is expected to attend the Knoxville reception, said state...

Ed Bryant and Bob Corker may be his Republican U.S. Senate primary rivals, but Van Hilleary's ads and comments make it sound like the race is between Hilleary and Hillary_Hillary Clinton, that is.

MAYNARDVILLE, Tenn. - There is a touch of nostalgia, considerable passion and perhaps a bit of bitterness on display when the man who was almost governor steps to the speaker's podium these days. At a Republican gathering in Big Ridge State Park, he begins a speech by reminiscing about the "magical time" of 1994, "a throw-the-rascals-out kind of a time." William Vanderpool "Van" Hilleary was elected to the U.S. House that year, at age 35 - to a seat previously held by Democrats - and was a factor in the "Republican revolution" that gave his party control of Congress. He...

Poll gives Bob Corker 38%, Van Hilleary 28%, and Ed Bryant 23%.

May 7--In the competitive race to fill the Senate seat of departing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R), likely Democratic nominee Harold Ford continues to trail all three potential Republican opponents. Representative Van Hilleary now leads Ford 47% to 38%. Representative Ed Bryant leads Ford 44% to 36%. And Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads him 43% to 39%. Those numbers are little changed from our previous Tennessee election poll. Since the beginning of the year, the gaps between Ford and the Republicans have widened. Hilleary does a bit better among conservatives than Bryant or Corker. All four candidates are viewed...

Former U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary formally announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate today by saying he wants the people of Tennessee to hire him for the next six years. "This is a lot more than a political campaign," Hilleary, a Republican, told a group of 40 supporters at McGhee Tyson Airport. "This is a job interview." Hilleary said he would bring conservative principles to bear on issues like the war in Iraq, immigration reform and the country’s "looming financial crisis." Hilleary said conservatives aren’t to blame for ballooning federal deficits, even though the GOP controls Congress and the presidency....

Latest poll shows conservative ex-Congressman Ed Bryant leading Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. by a 41% to 38% margin and conservative ex-Congressman Van Hilleary leading Ford by a 41% to 39% margin, but shows Ford leading RINO Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker by a 42% to 36% margin.

NASHVILLE - Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Van Hilleary is criticizing a GOP rival for helping secure corporate underwriters for a 2004 legislative retreat affiliated with the Legislature's Black Caucus. The actions of former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker came up earlier this week during Hilleary's appearance on a conservative talk radio show in Nashville. Both Corker and Hilleary are vying to succeed Bill Frist. "Bob Corker's raising money for the ultra-liberal Black Caucus in Tennessee," said the show's host, Steve Gill, addressing issues first raised in a Hilleary campaign news release. "Is he running in the right primary?" "That's a good...

Rep. Harold Ford Jr. Files for Frist's Senate Seat NewsMax.com Wires Thursday, May 26, 2005 NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. filed the federal paperwork Wednesday to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist. The five-term congressman from Memphis is the second Democrat to enter the 2006 race. Frist has said he does not plan to seek a third term. "I'm excited. I'm ready to go," Ford said in telephone interview from Washington. He said his top issues will be energy reform, national security and education. Ford, 35, is a member of...

Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) is expected to announce next week that he will run for the Senate, seeking to replace Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) when he retires in 2006. Ford’s office declined to comment on his senatorial plans, but three sources close to Ford said that he has decided to run and that an announcement will be made soon. One informed source said, “He will absolutely, 100 percent, run for the Senate. He wants that seat.” Ford -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ford will be traveling in the Middle East later this week, according to those sources, and is scheduled to...

<p>CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — Republican U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary, who lost the governor's race this year, says he plans to run again for statewide office in 2006.</p> <p>In his first interview since losing the Nov. 5 gubernatorial race to Democrat Phil Bredesen, Hilleary did not say what office he will seek next.</p>

WASHINGTON - All three of Tennessee's U.S. House members who ran for statewide office this year lost, but U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said he remains interested in campaigning to succeed U.S. Sen. Bill Frist in 2006. "I'd like to run, and it's likely," said Wamp, a Chattanooga Republican. "But it's not certain." Frist first ran and won in 1994, promising to serve in the Senate no more than 12 years (two terms), and he's told friends he'll keep his pledge. Wamp also ran and won that year, pledging a 12-year limit (six terms) on his House service. Wamp already has...

Stakes high on lottery, top offices By Paula Wade wade@gomemphis.com November 5, 2002 Tennesseans will brave steady rain today to make history - electing a new governor, a U.S. senator, filling three open congressional seats, recasting much of the state legislature and deciding on a long-debated state lottery. The contest between Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Van Hilleary is the closest governor's race since 1986 but the stakes are much higher than simply deciding who gets to live in the Governor's Mansion. After three brutal years of fiscal crisis in state government and a vicious campaign season, Tennesseans will choose...

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For all candidates' talk about education and health care, it is the income tax — the most explosive issue in Tennessee politics — that is dominating the tight race for governor.</p> <p>Republican Rep. Van Hilleary built his campaign around the issue, declaring "I'm not for any tax increases.'' Democrat Phil Bredesen believes better budget management will solve Tennessee's financial woes, but won't rule out supporting an income tax in the future.</p>

Van Hilleary, Heston, Lamar Heston fires up NRA rally Tour for GOP is ailing actor's exit By James W. Brosnan (albore's water carrier) brosnanj@shns.com November 2, 2002 NASHVILLE - Charlton Heston stood with Tennessee politicians for the last time as president of the National Rifle Association on Friday. More than 300 NRA members stood more than an hour in an Opryland Hotel conference room to hear other NRA leaders and finally Heston plug the candidacies of Lamar Alexander for the U.S. Senate and Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.) for governor. Heston, 79, has Alzheimer disease and is stepping down as the...

<p>Today, Mary Matalin, assistant to President Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, addresses a fund-raising lunch on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Van Hilleary at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville.</p> <p>Tomorrow, Cheney returns to Tennessee for a Hilleary fund-raising lunch in Chattanooga.</p>

Tight poll shows 'real' advantage for Hilleary By Paula Wade wade@gomemphis.com October 26, 2002 NASHVILLE - Van Hilleary and Phil Bredesen are neck-and-neck in the Tennessee governor's race, with Hilleary measuring a 2 percentage-point lead, a new poll shows. The poll, which shows Hilleary at 41 percent and Bredesen at 39 percent, suggests a photo finish that hinges on turnout and the 15 percent who say they're undecided. The Commercial Appeal and News Channel 3 commissioned the poll of 819 registered voters across Tennessee. The two-point spread is statistically meaningless, because the error margin is 3.5 percentage points. The telephone...

Hilleary lead 'a real one' in tight poll By Paula Wade wade@gomemphis.com October 27, 2002 NASHVILLE - Van Hilleary and Phil Bredesen are neck-and-neck in the Tennessee governor's race, with Hilleary measuring a 2 percentage-point lead, a new poll shows. The poll, which shows Hilleary at 41 percent and Bredesen at 39 percent, suggests a photo finish that hinges on turnout and the 15 percent who say they're undecided. The Commercial Appeal and News Channel 3 commissioned the poll of 819 registered voters across Tennessee. The two-point spread is statistically meaningless, because the error margin is 3.5 percentage points. The...

Lynne Cheney joins Hilleary at campaign fund-raiser By Hank Hayes KINGSPORT - Republican star power once again fueled Van Hilleary's gubernatorial campaign on Monday. Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, spoke to benefit Hilleary's campaign at a $250-a-plate morning fund-raiser attended by about 100 business and community leaders at the Ridgefields Country Club in Kingsport. "Mrs. Cheney, this is the area that put George W. Bush in the White House, right here," Hilleary told Lynne Cheney during her introduction. After that event, Hilleary flew to Nashville for a luncheon fund-raising appearance with former New York City Mayor Rudy...

<p>In the statewide battle to become governor, one candidate has been trying to make Nashville's recent tax history a campaign highlight film.</p> <p>Over the airwaves and even on the side of a mobile billboard, state Republicans paint former Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen as a man eager to boost taxes, despite his vigorous claims otherwise and despite assertions by campaign staff that two tax hikes were for schools — ''an investment in Nashville's children.''</p>