April 5, 2005

Bredesen: I Was Beatable in '06

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said he would have lost the 2002 gubernatorial race if the Republicans had nominated former state Rep. Jim Henry instead of former congressman Van Hilleary, according to NewChannel 5 investigative political reporter Phil Williams. Williams said on a recent airing of the radio show Teddy Bart's Roundtable that in searching the files of former Gov. Don Sundquist he came across a note from Sundquist to presidential campaign advisor Karl Rove in which Sundquist revealed that, shortly after the election, Bredesen confided to Sundquist in a private meeting that he'd have lost to Henry.

Blogging for Bryant has more. So does TeamGOP.org.

Bredesen won a narrow victory over Hilleary, eking out a 58,000-vote win that demonstrated not so much his own political power but Hilleary's inability to generate significant enthusiasm among Republican voters, a weakness that current U.S. Senate candidate Ed Bryant made very effectively last week.

A few thoughts: First, let's hope someone in the news media asks Bredesen about Williams' story. If they didn't hear Williams' story, they can listen to the audio of the radio show here. Second, Bredesen's admission is just a reminder of how weak a candidate Hilleary is in a statewide race. And third, it's also a reminder that Bredesen is beatable in 2006, and becoming more-so every day that the TennCare mess drags out and every day that Bredesen pushes forward with his plan to axe 323,000 poor, sick and old people from the healthcare plan instead of "fixing" TennCare as he promised in 2002.

Jim Henry, by the way, endorsed the idea back in 2002 of amending Tennessee constitution to include a tax-and-spending limitation similar to Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights.