It’s a familiar image in American politics: The primary is
over, the rivalries subside, the bitterness is forgotten, and the unsuccessful
candidates at some point appear on a victory platform with the winner, pledging
their support against the standard-bearer of the other party for the sake of the
common cause and the greater glory.
Never mind the downcast eyes and the remorse and
disappointment that you know have to linger in the hearts of some of the losers,
they’re there, hands joined with their party nominee and arms raised overhead as
the formerly sundered partisans come together and cheer for the party’s victory
in November.
We’ve all seen it: It’s the rule, not the exception. Even
as we speak, former 4th District congressman Van Hilleary, the
third-place finisher in the just-concluded Republican primary for the U.S.
Senate, is touring the state in tandem with party nominee Bob Corker.
And second-place finisher Ed Bryant, who gamely did such honors for
current GOP Senator Lamar Alexander when Alexander bested him in 2002,
will presumably be there for Corker as well.
So where is the hand-holding and glad-handing and platform
solidarity amongst the formerly teeming field of Democratic primary candidates
in the 9th congressional district?
Winner Steve Cohen is not without some stout
intra-party support as he looks ahead to a three-way showdown in November
involving Republican nominee Mark White and independent Jake Ford.
He was the honoree at a weekend “community breakfast” hosted by Shelby County
mayor A C Wharton and Memphis mayor Willie Herenton (the latter of
whom was out of town but lent his name to the event).
The roster of Democratic well-wishers present at the
breakfast, held at The Beauty Shop restaurant at Cooper and Young, included
Shelby County commissioners Deidre Malone, Cleo Kirk, Michael
Hooks, and Shep Wilbun; commissioners-elect Steve Mulroy and
Henri Brooks; city councilmen E.C. Jones and Myron Lowery;
state representatives Beverly Marrero and Kathryn Bowers; and
recent Bowers primary opponent Steve Webster.
Also on hand for the event, though steering clear of the
politics, was Republican commissioner-elect Mike Carpenter, whose
district overlaps with the 9th congressional district.
Lee Harris, the young University of Memphis law
professor who was among the recent field of 9th District
congressional candidates, was there to offer Cohen his support.
But no Nikki Tinker, no Joe Ford Jr.,
no Julian Bolton, the second-, third-, and fourth-place
Democratic primary finishers. And most of the others in the 15-strong field were
either hedging their bets or not yet publicly committed.
Ford, a formerly California-based entertainment lawyer, is
first cousin to both independent Jake Ford and outgoing 9th District
congressman Harold Ford Jr., the party nominee for the U.S. Senate. His
first post-primary impulse, communicated informally via the blog of Thaddeus
Matthews, was to endorse victor Cohen, but he has since indicated he will do
some further thinking before formalizing that action.
Tinker, the Pinnacle Airlines attorney who, like Ford, is a
relatively recent transplant to the 9th District, has said she hasn’t
yet begun to think about an endorsement. Other also-rans, like Ed Stanton
and state representative Joe Towns, have had so far inconclusive
conversations with Cohen.
Reportedly at stake for some of those still uncommitted is
the issue of whom Cohen might support as a successor in his District 30 state
Senate seat. The senator has so far declined to confer his imprimatur on any of
the would-be contenders, commenting wryly: “I have to get elected first before
there’s an open seat to talk about.”
jb
Beating the Heat: Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks (left) and Election Commissioner O.C. Pleasant each sipped liquid refreshments during their respective meetings on Monday. Minutes after this picture was snapped, outgoing commissioner Hooks, whose Tennessee Waltz trial begins next week, announced his resignation effective 12:01 a.m., next Monday, August 21.
Harold Ford’s role: The most significant
hold-off in the matter of a Cohen endorsement is undoubtedly Rep. Ford himself.
In the course of his statewide “Success Express” bus tour last week, the
congressman and would-be U.S. senator told reporters that he would not get
involved in the congressional race, other than to say, “I’m a Democrat, I
support Democrats.”
Spelling that out, Rep. Ford allowed that the term
“Democrats” included both Cohen and brother Jake, who, through running as an
independent, has promised to caucus with congressional Democrats if elected. The
congressman’s broad interpretation of the term apparently extended also to the
three-way U.S. Senate race in Connecticut, where newly “independent” incumbent
Joe Lieberman, previously endorsed by Ford, faces party nominee Ned
LaMont and a no-name Republican.
“I’m not focused on it. I have my hands full here,” Ford
told the Nashville Tennessean by way of eschewing a choice.
When the matter of Rep. Ford’s reticence in the two races
came up during last Saturday’s monthly meeting in Memphis of the Dutch Treat
Luncheon, it drew a supportive reaction from David Cocke, one of several
speakers assembled for the event. Someone suggested that Ford might suffer some
erosion of his base if he continued to temporize on the dual question of
endorsing LaMont and, especially, Cohen.
Said lawyer Cocke, a longtime Ford-family ally and an
on-again, off-again power in the Democratic Party. “It’ll hurt maybe among some
liberal Democrats, but it wouldn’t necessarily hurt among independents, who are
looking for a congressman who’s independent.”
“You look at his voting record. It’s very moderate. It may
upset some of the members of the Democratic Party who are liberal – sometimes it
upsets me – but it is pretty mainstream for the state of Tennessee, and he has
been very effective on his tour.”
Other Democrats, including several members of the state’s
increasingly influential blogging community, are not so sure. Adam
Kleinheider of the Nashville-based Volunteer Voters Web site headed a
recent post “Make a Decision” and demanded that Rep. Ford answer the question, “Are
you voting for your brother or are you voting for
Steve Cohen?”
jb
Beating the Heat: Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks (left) and Election Commissioner O.C. Pleasant each sipped liquid refreshments during their respective meetings on Monday. Minutes after this picture was snapped, outgoing commissioner Hooks, whose Tennessee Waltz trial begins next week, announced his resignation effective 12:01 a.m., next Monday, August 21.
The Crossover Factor: One of the unanswered
questions from this month’s election has been that of black votes for white
candidates and vice versa. The question is especially pertinent in view of the
current three-way status of the 9th District race.
Preliminary analysis of seven predominantly
African-American precincts, selected at random, showed that Cohen fared very
well indeed in the multi-candidate primary field, finishing with 18.89 percent
of the vote in precinct 48-00 (Hamilton Elementary); 15.35 percent in precinct
76-06 (New Nonconnah MB Church); 14.2 percent in precinct 50-01 (Riverview
Community Center); 18.41 percent in precinct 92-02 (Zion CME Church); 14.82
percent in precinct 27-00 (Humes Middle School); 16.73 percent in precinct in
precinct 75-11 (Geeter Junior High); and 18.89 percent in precinct 60-02
(Airways Jr. High).
Tellingly, none of these precincts lie within Cohen’s own
state Senate district, where, presumably, his totals would be even higher. The
pattern overall is that Cohen, whose chief rivals were all black, finished
second or third in predominantly African-American precincts.
jb
Beating the Heat: Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks (left) and Election Commissioner O.C. Pleasant each sipped liquid refreshments during their respective meetings on Monday. Minutes after this picture was snapped, outgoing commissioner Hooks, whose Tennessee Waltz trial begins next week, announced his resignation effective 12:01 a.m., next Monday, August 21.
Election challenge:
Lawyer JayBailey‘s bid to become chairman of the Shelby County
Democratic Party was turned back last week with a lopsided vote of the party’s
executive committee in favor of incumbent chairman Matt Kuhn.
In the wake of his defeat,
Bailey recouped his loss somewhat and excited committee members with a claim
that some 163 voters in last week’s Shelby County election had been residents of
Mississippi and had therefore cast ballots improperly.
Bailey’s contention, wrongly
attributed at the time to a statement allegedly made by Election Commission
chairman Greg Duckett (who later denied doing so), was apparently based
on research done by John Harvey, a recent write-in candidate for sheriff
whose computer expertise has fueled any number of challenges to voting results –
including those in last year’s special state Senate election in District 29,
later invalidated.
Duckett and ranking Republican
commission member Rich Holden suggested at the commission’s Monday
meeting, at which results were certified, that the alleged Mississippi
residences could well be secondary or vacation homes.
In any case, Bailey has now
cited the residence matter and other alleged irregularities in a Chancery Court
petition to overturn the election results on behalf of Criminal Court Clerk
candidate Vernon Johnson and Shelby County Clerk candidate Otis
Jackson, Democrats and losers to the GOP’s Bill Key and Debbie
Stamson, respectively.
Similar suits have been filed by attorney Mark Allen on behalf of
Democrats Shep Wilbun and Sondra Becton, losers to Republican incumbents
Steve Stamson and Chris Thomas for the offices of Juvenile Court
Clerk and Probate Court Clerk, respectively.
