OK. Just remember, it wasn’t a flame-war or anything I was intending to start with you or an intent to be hateful. It just gets under my skin when I see folks get misled by slicksters. You want to raise the alarm bell on them.
My initial support for Governor was not for Diane Black, but was for State Senator Mae Beavers (who ill-advisedly resigned her seat to run). Sen. Beavers had been a thorn in the butt of the establishment since her election to office. Unfortunately for her, she was facing a field of candidates for whom she didn’t have the $$ to be competitive. That forced her out. Because she had a rivalry of sorts with Diane Black (they served in the Senate together), she chose not to endorse her and went with (to my disappointment), Lee. Frankly, I don’t think she was aware of his track record in Nashville in the private sector, and wasn’t warned off him by those who could inform her as such.
You said you’re in Roane County. That’s somewhat known for being a hotbed of RINOs. It sent the liberal RINO Jim Henry to the legislature for a time, where he served as Minority Leader. Ironically, even Roane County had enough of Henry, despite it being districted to send a Republican, and he lost to a Democrat. Henry being quite wealthy, as RINOs are often apt to be, was well-utilized in 2002 when the very unpopular outgoing Governor Don Sundquist used Henry in the GOP Gubernatorial primary that year for the express purpose of draining Congressman Van Hilleary of his finances.
Although Hilleary won the primary with 64-30%, Hilleary could not compete against Phil Bredesen on the financial front (and the Dem Attorney General allowed Bredesen to flagrantly violate campaign financing laws at the time). Bredesen used his deep pockets to drive down turnout for Hilleary and build himself up in areas of the state (outside Middle TN) where he wasn’t well known. Outspending Hilleary by more than 2-to-1, Bredesen pulled off a 3% win, getting just over 50% on the strength of usual GOP counties in East TN (including Knox and, you guessed it, Roane) voting Democrat.
True. Bredesen and Corker are crooks alike.