“It’s just me and Obama.” That’s 9th District
congressman Steve Cohen on the subject of his involvements in this fall’s
general election campaigns. The subject came up because of an appearance by
Cohen at a weekend fundraiser for U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander at the home of
University of Memphis basketball coach John Calipari.
Cohen cautioned that his appearance at the fundraiser
shouldn’t be misconstrued. “Coach Cal is a good friend of mine. He’s ‘Mr.
Memphis, as far as I’m concerned. So when he asked me to come by as a courtesy,
I said I would.” The congressman noted also that he had appeared with Alexander
at a joint press conference at The Med earlier Friday and that the fundraiser
had occurred shortly thereafter.
At the press conference, Cohen and Alexander had discussed
joint efforts to secure federal help in securing reimbursements
for expenses incurred by The Med in treating Medicaid patients from Mississippi
and Arkansas each year. By joint acknowledgement, the two have worked c loosely
on this and other matters in Congress, including overcoming resistance by the
Democratic leadership to President Bush’s appointment of the Rev. William
Graves to the TVA Board this year.
But Cohen said he would take no
role in the Senate race, in which Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican
Caucus, is opposed by Nashville lawyer Bob Tuke, the Democratic nominee. “I did
appear with Tuke on a common ballot during the primary, and I always support
Democrats for office,” said Cohen, who stressed, however, that he is confining
his personal efforts to his own reelection effort and to the campaign of
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Over the weekend, Cohen and 5th
District U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville, who was Obama’s state chairman for
this year’s Tennessee presidential primary, held a joint press availability and
issued a press release on the theme of what they said was lobbyist domination in
the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
