tiptap
08-08-2008, 07:00 AM
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000002936268
Cohen, on the other hand, shrugged off suggestions that he faced a highly competitive challenge from Tinker to win the 9th District Democratic primary by a landslide margin.
The outcome contrasted with Cohen’s plurality win in the 2006 primary for the 9th District seat that five-term Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. left open for a Senate bid that he narrowly lost. Cohen, a Jewish state senator with a liberal record and a history of rapport with black constituents, topped a field of 15 candidates in that contest with 31 percent.
But Tinker, who finished second with 25 percent, and some other black activists charged he won only because he was the only major white candidate in a field that had several significant African-American candidates, and said the seat should be returned to the black representation that had been provided by Ford for 10 years and by his father, Harold Ford Sr., for 22 years before that.
Yet Tinker, who made that argument central to her bid to oust Cohen this year, appeared to overplay her hand with controversial campaign ads that caused a surge of rebukes going all the way up the political line to presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama , who would be the nation’s first African-American president if elected in November.
One commercial assailing Cohen featured an image of a Ku Klux Klan member with a burning cross that drew objections from black supporters of the congressman and Jewish groups, among others. It portrayed Cohen as the only person, in his long-ago role as a local Memphis officeholder, who voted against renaming a park that memorializes and contains the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who helped establish the KKK. Tinker’s critics, including those who note that many Klan members also have expressed hatred for Jews, said nothing in Cohen’s background justified the Klan imagery in the ad.
Another commercial attempted to weaken Cohen’s appeal among black constituents by implying that he was not respectful of their Christian faith, accusing him of voting as a state senator against school prayer but showing up at churches to participate in their services.
Tennessee GOP Rep. Davis Ousted in Primary; Democrat Cohen Deflects Attacks for Blowout Win
Obama weighed in on Thursday, the primary day, with a statement condemning Tinker’s actions. “These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee,” Obama said.
Ford Jr., who now holds a national position as head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, also repudiated Tinker’s ads. Ford was himself the target of what Democrats claimed were racially based negative ads produced by the national Republican Party during his 2006 Senate campaign, which he lost to Republican Bob Corker by 3 percentage points.
Rick Maynard, Cohen’s communications director, expressed gratitude for Ford and Obama’s statements during an interview with CQ Politics Thursday, adding, “We believe in a positive campaign and try to keep everything clean.”
State Democratic Party spokesman Wade Munday, in an interview with CQ Politics, blamed Tinker’s negative ads for her loss. “I think she was making a strong case for the community up until that point,” Munday said. He added that despite the fact Tennesseans are permitted to vote early at the polls, which would have been before the negative ads were run, most Memphis-area voters have historically voted on Election Day.
“Any time a candidate goes to such extremes to make a case that is purely negative and a very personal and unfounded attack, it’s going to backfire,” he said.
Cohen has a longstanding relationship with the local African-American community stemming from more than 20 years served as a Memphis-area state senator. He is the self-proclaimed “father of Tennessee’s lottery,” which he said has raised money for state education and scholarship programs.
He has also taken action in the House to promote issues specific to the black community. These include his sponsorship of a non-binding resolution, passed by the House last week, that offered a national apology for the past enslavement of blacks in America and for the subsequent “Jim Crow” era of legal segregation and discrimination against African-Americans that lasted for nearly a century. Cohen also introduced a resolution to recognize the impact of soul music on American society and another to recognize the contributions of Negro baseball leagues.
Cohen also unsuccessfully sought to join the Congressional Black Caucus when he was first elected to Congress.
His win makes him virtually certain to be elected to a second term this fall. CQ Politics rates the race Safe Democratic. No Republican filed for the race, though three independents will be on November’s ballot. The best-known of these candidates is pharmaceutical company representative Jake Ford, Harold Ford’s brother, who also ran in the 2006 general election and received 22 percent of the vote.
In the state’s 7th District, Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn coasted to victory in her primary race, despite a challenge from former Republican state Sen. Tom Leatherwood. CQ Politics rates Blackburn’s general election race as Safe Republican.
In the key statewide primary, Democrats nominated Bob Tuke, a former state party chairman, for an uphill challenge to first-term Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander. CQ Politics rates Alexander’s re-election race as Republican Favored.
Tuke led the six-candidate field with 32 percent of the vote and a 10 percentage-point lead over his nearest rival, lesser-known candidate Gary G. Davis.
Both parties are competitive in Tennessee, unlike some of the neighboring Southern states where Republicans clearly dominate. Phil Bredesen , the state’s second-term governor, and five out of 9 House members are Democrats.
Cohen, on the other hand, shrugged off suggestions that he faced a highly competitive challenge from Tinker to win the 9th District Democratic primary by a landslide margin.
The outcome contrasted with Cohen’s plurality win in the 2006 primary for the 9th District seat that five-term Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. left open for a Senate bid that he narrowly lost. Cohen, a Jewish state senator with a liberal record and a history of rapport with black constituents, topped a field of 15 candidates in that contest with 31 percent.
But Tinker, who finished second with 25 percent, and some other black activists charged he won only because he was the only major white candidate in a field that had several significant African-American candidates, and said the seat should be returned to the black representation that had been provided by Ford for 10 years and by his father, Harold Ford Sr., for 22 years before that.
Yet Tinker, who made that argument central to her bid to oust Cohen this year, appeared to overplay her hand with controversial campaign ads that caused a surge of rebukes going all the way up the political line to presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama , who would be the nation’s first African-American president if elected in November.
One commercial assailing Cohen featured an image of a Ku Klux Klan member with a burning cross that drew objections from black supporters of the congressman and Jewish groups, among others. It portrayed Cohen as the only person, in his long-ago role as a local Memphis officeholder, who voted against renaming a park that memorializes and contains the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who helped establish the KKK. Tinker’s critics, including those who note that many Klan members also have expressed hatred for Jews, said nothing in Cohen’s background justified the Klan imagery in the ad.
Another commercial attempted to weaken Cohen’s appeal among black constituents by implying that he was not respectful of their Christian faith, accusing him of voting as a state senator against school prayer but showing up at churches to participate in their services.
Tennessee GOP Rep. Davis Ousted in Primary; Democrat Cohen Deflects Attacks for Blowout Win
Obama weighed in on Thursday, the primary day, with a statement condemning Tinker’s actions. “These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee,” Obama said.
Ford Jr., who now holds a national position as head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, also repudiated Tinker’s ads. Ford was himself the target of what Democrats claimed were racially based negative ads produced by the national Republican Party during his 2006 Senate campaign, which he lost to Republican Bob Corker by 3 percentage points.
Rick Maynard, Cohen’s communications director, expressed gratitude for Ford and Obama’s statements during an interview with CQ Politics Thursday, adding, “We believe in a positive campaign and try to keep everything clean.”
State Democratic Party spokesman Wade Munday, in an interview with CQ Politics, blamed Tinker’s negative ads for her loss. “I think she was making a strong case for the community up until that point,” Munday said. He added that despite the fact Tennesseans are permitted to vote early at the polls, which would have been before the negative ads were run, most Memphis-area voters have historically voted on Election Day.
“Any time a candidate goes to such extremes to make a case that is purely negative and a very personal and unfounded attack, it’s going to backfire,” he said.
Cohen has a longstanding relationship with the local African-American community stemming from more than 20 years served as a Memphis-area state senator. He is the self-proclaimed “father of Tennessee’s lottery,” which he said has raised money for state education and scholarship programs.
He has also taken action in the House to promote issues specific to the black community. These include his sponsorship of a non-binding resolution, passed by the House last week, that offered a national apology for the past enslavement of blacks in America and for the subsequent “Jim Crow” era of legal segregation and discrimination against African-Americans that lasted for nearly a century. Cohen also introduced a resolution to recognize the impact of soul music on American society and another to recognize the contributions of Negro baseball leagues.
Cohen also unsuccessfully sought to join the Congressional Black Caucus when he was first elected to Congress.
His win makes him virtually certain to be elected to a second term this fall. CQ Politics rates the race Safe Democratic. No Republican filed for the race, though three independents will be on November’s ballot. The best-known of these candidates is pharmaceutical company representative Jake Ford, Harold Ford’s brother, who also ran in the 2006 general election and received 22 percent of the vote.
In the state’s 7th District, Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn coasted to victory in her primary race, despite a challenge from former Republican state Sen. Tom Leatherwood. CQ Politics rates Blackburn’s general election race as Safe Republican.
In the key statewide primary, Democrats nominated Bob Tuke, a former state party chairman, for an uphill challenge to first-term Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander. CQ Politics rates Alexander’s re-election race as Republican Favored.
Tuke led the six-candidate field with 32 percent of the vote and a 10 percentage-point lead over his nearest rival, lesser-known candidate Gary G. Davis.
Both parties are competitive in Tennessee, unlike some of the neighboring Southern states where Republicans clearly dominate. Phil Bredesen , the state’s second-term governor, and five out of 9 House members are Democrats.