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Posts in "Tenn. Senate"

December 4, 2012

Tennessee: Bredesen Leans Against Alexander Run

Tennessee: Bredesen Leans Against Alexander Run

In an interview, Bredesen said he didn't think he would mount a senatorial bid against Alexander, above. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Former Democratic Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen didn’t rule out a bid for Senate, but he certainly didn’t sound like a man itching for a run.

In an interview with The Tennessean newspaper’s editorial board, Bredesen said he didn’t think he would mount a bid against Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander.

“I’m always careful to never say ‘never, never, never, never.’ But I’m not doing anything remotely that you would expect me to be doing at this point if I were to be interested in doing that,” he said, according to the paper. “As I’ve told some of the recruiters, I don’t think I’d like it, and I don’t think you’d like me.”

If Alexander, up for his third term in 2014, is vulnerable at all, it’s probably from a primary challenge. And the senator has already been working to shore up his right flank. During the weekend, he made a show of strength, announcing that just about every important statehouse and Tennessee federal official was supporting him.

Roll Call rates the race as Safe Republican.

December 1, 2012

Lamar Alexander Lines Up GOP All Star Team to Chair Campaign

Sen. Lamar Alexander wants to make clear that all of Tennessee’s GOP establishment is behind his 2014 bid for re-election, sending a beacon flare to any ambitious Republicans who might consider taking him on in a primary.

Alexander will announce on Saturday that Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., will chair his re-election campaign with Tennessee Republican Reps. Marsha Blackburn, Phil Roe, Diane Black, Stephen Fincher and Chuck Fleischmann, along with Gov. Bill Haslam, Sen. Bob Corker, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Tennessee  House Speaker Beth Harwell serving as honorary co-chairmen.

If Alexander faces any threat this cycle, it would be from his right. There is no indication there are Republicans preparing to run, unlike in other states where GOP senators are vulnerable in primaries like Georgia and South Carolina. And his announcement means any challenger would be running against the totality of the Tennessee party establishment.

Notably, the only Tennessee Republican member absent from Alexander’s announcement today: embattled Rep. Scott DesJarlais.

Roll Call rates the Tennessee Senate races as Safe Republican

November 28, 2012

Inside the 2014 Senate Races

Inside the 2014 Senate Races
Roll Call’s initial Senate ratings outlook projects a potentially bullish cycle for Republicans, with an opportunity to recapture the majority for the first time in eight years.

But that’s exactly how things looked two years before the 2012 elections, when Democrats surprised many with victories in Missouri and North Dakota on their way to picking up two seats. So the challenge for the GOP and incoming National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran of Kansas is to capitalize on their opportunities.

That and how voters feel about President Barack Obama in 2014 could determine how the parties fare at the ballot box less than two years from now. Democrats won their current majority in 2006, in the second midterm election under President George W. Bush.

Republicans are hoping Obama’s second midterm is similarly kind to them, if not equal to the president’s 2010 midterm shellacking, when the GOP won seven seats (and control of the House) despite beginning the cycle as the underdog.

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