Tennessee Democratic Party Says to Most Tennesseans: Bredeson Doesn't Want Your Support

Conventional wisdom says that there is no chance that Jim Bryson can defeat Governor Phil Bredeson in the upcoming November election. After all, Tennesseans never deny incumbent governor’s their second terms. Bryson entered the race too late and does not have the money to challenge a moderate Democrat who has garnered support from many Republicans.

While the conventional wisdom makes sense, the behavior of Democrats seems to indicate that they don’t quite believe it. One says that, not because they are campaigning hard – that would merely show that they are not taking anything for granted – but because they keep pulling out these desperate sounding ploys that have the appearance of a campaign trying for a Hail Mary.

Are Tennessee Democrats scared of a Bryson campaign getting off the ground, or have they so rarely campaigned as frontrunners in recent years that they have forgotten how?

Today’s example takes the form of the Tennessee Democratic Party’s charges that Bryson is tainted on the subject of immigration and, therefore, is not entitled to a position on it in opposition to the Governor.

But notice the nature of Bryson’s alleged misdeeds. No one is arguing that Bryson has directly hired illegal immigrants. The allegation is that Bryson is sullied because he owns a company that has performed work for clients that hired illegal immigrants.

Now, none of these companies were Joe and Bill’s Landscaping Company. No, they are UPS, Anheiser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Kraft.

So, because Bryson owned a company that had some clients that among their multiple tens of thousands of employees either wittingly or unwittingly hired a relatively small number of illegal immigrants, Bryson is tainted. Does that make sense to anyone in the sentient universe other than Bob Tuke (The Oracle is in a generous mood)?

If so, here is a suggestion. In order to remain consistent and unsullied, the Bredeson campaign should refuse to accept any campaign donations from anyone who has been associated with any of those 6 companies, either as an employee, through a vendor/client relationship or as a purchaser of their goods and services. Furthermore, the Bredeson campaign should announce that because of its refusal to be so sullied, that it does not want the votes of anyone who in any way has contributed to the business profitability of any of those six companies. After all, Bredeson doesn’t want any association with anyone who has in any way aided and abetted illegal immigration.

Thus, the Tennessee Democratic Party is now saying to roughly 95% of Tennesseans: give your money and votes to Bryson.

Or, they are just acting ridiculous and desperate.

See also: The City Paper, Tennessee Politics Blog