Taking some of the Leftist blogosphere to political school

Much of the blogosphere and the commentators on State politics know that State Representative Stacey Campfield is having a big fundraiser at Club LeConte this coming Tuesday for his Senate campaign. As is to be expected at an event like this, the Chairs of the host committee are Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey and Knoxville Mayor Tim Burchett, who Campfield is running to replace in the Senate. Stacey Campfield won the Republican nomination on August 5th, of course.

The host committee for the Campfield fundraiser includes one of his former opponents, Steve Hill, a who's who of Senators and Representatives-including Reps. Bill Dunn, Frank Niceley, Ryan Haynes, and Jimmy Matlock, and some of the Tennessee Senate's biggest movers and shakers, including Majority Leader Mark Norris, along with Senators like Randy McNally, Delores Gresham, Mae Beavers, and Brian Kelsey. The most notable name at the top of the list, however, is the Republican nominee for Governor, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam-again, to be expected since Haslam is now the de facto party leader for the GOP in Tennessee as its nominee for Governor.

Leftist Nashville blogger Betsy Phillips, known in a former life as Aunt B., thinks that there is some issue to be made because Haslam is apparently going to show up in support of Campfield Tuesday and that somehow the Democrats could have a field day with this. While I am sure the Democrats will issue a press release about this, they know, and Republicans know-and we know that they know-that such a release will sway no serious voters whatsoever, and will cause most of the politically-informed members of the citizenry to shrug their shoulders and say "so what..." That Phillips and other members of the mostly-Nashville chatterbox chicken-left somehow think that Haslam showing up at a fundraiser for the Republican nominee for a key State Senate seat in his own hometown is some major development that is indicative of how Haslam will or will not govern shows how little Phillips knows about the mechanics of party politics within both parties.

As an example of the political reality surrounding situations like this, let us assume this is a fundraiser for a Democratic candidate for a Senate seat, and just for kicks, let's say that the nominee for that seat is Aunt B. herself. Just as we know that there are a lot of people, particularly in Nashville, who like Betsy Phillips-especially in the blogosphere-there are undoubtedly some Democratic elected officials that privately think she is a real crackpot (just as I'm sure some Republicans think of me). However, if she is the Democratic nominee for a Senate seat, many of the same people in the Democratic establishment who would quake in fear at the thought of Senator Betsy Phillips would almost certainly show up at a fundraiser for her, and they'd even pony up for a few bucks to help her out. This is especially true if all indications were that she was going to win the General Election and win handsomely. Why? Because those people may all need her help later on, and they'll be able to remind her that they gave her help when she needed it.

Bill Haslam knows that Stacey Campfield stands an awfully good chance of being called Senator Campfield come January, and if Haslam is elected Governor, there will doubtless be a few times during his tenure when he might need Stacey Campfield's vote or his help getting some key legislation through a committee. If Haslam does nothing to help Campfield, Campfield would have no good reason to help Haslam if a time comes when Haslam needs people in his own party to step up. Such is the nature of politics in both parties and in nearly every State in the Union.

As for whether Haslam and Campfield see eye-to-eye, it is certain that they don't agree on every issue, but Democrats are deluding themselves if they think Haslam is going to act like a flaming, unrepentant liberal-he is not one.