BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
Roger Abramson, writing for the Nashville Scene, predicts that "Former Congressman Van Hilleary will sorely regret getting into next year's race to succeed U.S. Sen. Bill Frist."
Ed Bryant, Hilleary's onetime congressional colleague (and—supposedly—his friend) is already starting to mop the floor with him, and the race hasn't even really started yet.
The first cut came just after Hilleary announced that he was stepping in to the race, which the Bryant campaign answered with a blistering press release detailing Hilleary's relatively poor showing in the 2002 race for governor. Then, just last week came an announcement that Janice Bowling, onetime district director for Hilleary and a popular figure in her own right among Republicans in her boss's old congressional district, has endorsed Bryant rather than her erstwhile political mentor. Hilleary would never say it publicly, but, geez, that one really had to sting.
Combine this with Bryant's announcement that he raised over $400,000 in the first quarter of this year, as well as his nine-point lead over Hilleary in a poll taken last week, and it's evident that Bryant has gone a long way to make the GOP primary a two-man race between himself and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker. Which is what he will have to do to win the nomination, since he and Hilleary are ideological soul mates fighting over the same kettle of electoral fish.
Bottom line: Van Hilleary is in very real danger of being left in the dust. What's more, this was completely foreseeable, which makes his decision to enter the race all the more baffling. An unwritten rule of politics maintains that if you lose once, it just means you lost, and you can try again. Lose twice in a row, though, and you're just—well—a loser. There's still plenty of time for Hilleary, but he has his work cut out for him if he wants to avoid putting his political career on concrete blocks for good.
Links added by me.
In related news, Blogging For Bryant has been hammering Hilleary on his refusl to voluntarily resign his post as a national committeman on the Republican State Executive Committee, a post that represents a clear conflict of interest now that he's a candidate. BforB says the committee may soon adopt a resolution to force Hilleary to resign his post, something Hilleary rather childishly challenged them to do.
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