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As noted yesterday, Tennessee held its primary elections on August 2, and there’s sorta good news and bad news. On the somewhat positive front, Republican U.S. Rep. Diane Black handily beat back a challenge from Lou Ann Zelenick, whose campaign was mainly centered on the incumbent’s alleged lack of zealotry in the Fight Against Shariah Law, which was supposedly threatening the good Christian citizens of middle Tennessee from a mosque just outside the district’s boundaries. Black didn’t exactly represent a profile in courage, proclaiming that she, too, didn’t like tolerating Muslims, but a Zelenick win would have made unfortunate global news.
But whatever respite Republicans obtained from the state’s growing Political Dogpatch image was squandered by Democratic voters, who unwittingly nominated a first class right-wing loony tuner as their candidate for the U.S. Senate. Yes, facing incumbent Sen. Bob Corker will be some obscure dude named Mark Clayton, who won a plurality of the vote in a large field of unknowns via the inestimable advantage of appearing at the top of the ballot thanks to his alphabetically superior surname. Turns out Clayton is an enthusiast for homophobia along with various classic conservative extremist memes, including the “NAFTA Super-Highway” and “FEMA Concentration Camps For Patriots.” The Tennessee Democratic Party quickly disowned Clayton, but the damage to the state ticket is already done.
I’d say the situation provides some empirical evidence relevant to two issues of how states conduct elections. Tennessee is one of the relatively few southern states without a threshold requirement of the percentage of votes needed to secure a party nomination. Requiring runoffs can have pernicious effects, but on the other hand, it’s a good way to avoid deeply embarrassing accidental nominations, as Texas Democrats showed earlier this week by nominating former state senator Paul Sadler for the Senate instead of perennial candidate (sometimes as a Republican) Grady Yarbrough, whose first place finish in the primary seems to have been primarily a matter of voters confusing him with the late liberal Sen. Ralph Yarborough.
As for the alphabetical ballot listing issue, it’s long past time for every state to list non-incumbent candidates randomly. Otherwise Tennessee primary ballots may regularly feature crazy-person candidates with names like Aaron Aardvark, and Democrats may fondly remember the days when they worried Bob Corker’s last opponent, Harold Ford, Jr., was not sufficiently progressive.
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martin on August 03, 2012 5:17 PM:
Pet Peeve Beating A Dead Hobby Horse Time. How about just getting the states out of the Primary business and let the parties run them and pay for them? Private Partisan Parties paid for by taxpayers is one of the most corrupt and wasteful forms of political socialism.
latts on August 03, 2012 5:27 PM:
Sigh... coming from Mississippi and moving to Memphis & later Nashville after college, Tennessee seemed like such a huge improvement over Assbackwardistan. Now the cities are being politically swarmed by the right-wing freakshow, and I'm regretting not moving much farther north & east long ago.
Not sure what to say about the TN Dems, to be honest, but they sure as hell haven't inspired me to get involved at the state level. Maybe the problem is that sane Democrats just can't stomach the party and therefore it keeps cheerfully ignoring its constant failures.
Gar Lipow on August 03, 2012 5:38 PM:
How about instant run-off or other forms of preferential voing? Nobody would put Mark Clayton as a *2nd* choice. Preferential voting saves the whole expense of a primary. Everything is settled in one step. (Basically the way preferential voting works for a single office, is that voters rank candidates, first choice, second choice and so on. Based upon that, if nobody gets 51%, the ranking is used to determine who would win a runoff. Instant run-off is one forumula to determine this, but not the only one. )
c u n d gulag on August 03, 2012 5:42 PM:
While I love the "50 State Stratgy," there are some states where "strategy" is WAAAAAAY too much more that a 2-syllable word for people to understand.
And, to run some feckin' nitwit with a "D" by his/her name, does nothing to advance anything but the mosr reactionary of Conservative agenda's.
Sorry...
SadOldVet on August 03, 2012 6:09 PM:
Ed, I was with you on this posting until you brought Harold Ford into it.
Harold Ford was never a progressive of any sort and to say that he was not 'progressive enough' is to insult your readers.
Harold Ford was a DLC/DINO/Repuke-Lite, is a DLC/DINO/Repuke-Lite, and will always be a DLC/DINO/Repuke-Lite.
Your own DLC/DINO/Repuke-Lite roots show through when you bring your former DLC boss into your postings.
David Carlton on August 03, 2012 6:19 PM:
Dear SadOldVet,
Name-call all you like; Ford (and the comparable Phil Bredesen) was the last credible statewide Democratic candidate we've seen in Tennessee, and he didn't used to be as bizarre as he's become. I refused even to vote for governor last time, it was so embarrassing--and this is worse, much worse.
Alvin Greene on August 03, 2012 6:37 PM:
Hey dude, I was totes a superserious candidate. Superseriously.
greennotGreen on August 03, 2012 6:52 PM:
I researched who was running so I could make an informed choice when I got to the voting booth. You know when I knew there was a senatorial primary? When I drove up to the poll. So I didn't vote because not voting for a good guy is better than voting for a bad guy. I'm sorry the bad guy won, but a little campaigning from the rest of the field might have helped.
greennotGreen on August 03, 2012 6:54 PM:
Clarification: I didn't vote in the senatorial primary. I knew who to vote for on the school board!
mudwall jackson on August 03, 2012 8:02 PM:
sadoldvet,
i don't care much for harold ford (although i do understand what ed saying here, and it's not what you apparently think) but it's not your job to declare who is and who isn't a good democrat. the voters of a particular state or district can decide that. if you enjoy purity tests, join the republicans. they seem to love them, which is why they more and more resemble a gathering of lunatics rather than a political party.