Pat Marsh's campaign in District 62 in the Special Election to replace Curt Cobb is in real trouble today. Tennessee Right to Life and the Right to Life organizations in the counties of that constituency are endorsing Ty Cobb in his campaign to replace his brother. While this doesn't guarantee a Cobb victory-especially since Marsh still has plenty of money to run with-it hurt's Marsh's credibility with the very voters who Republicans are trying to capture in districts like the 62nd. These voters may have voted Democratic in years' past, but as that party moves further to the Left its values are not something it shares in common with the average Tennessee voter.
Tennessee is a different political animal, however, than the national party. We still have enough conservative Democrats to insure the passage of a conservative agenda. No, conservatives do not run the Democratic Caucus in the House or Senate, and they certainly don't run the State party, but there are enough socially conservative Democrats that SJR 127 passed with a 2/3rds vote in the last session of the General Assembly because of Democratic votes. Ty Cobb can easily say that he is a conservative pro-life Democrat and he would be telling the truth. Because of Pat Marsh's positions on human cloning and embryonic stem cell research, Cobb is the more pro-life candidate and a Right to Life endorsement is to be expected.
Tennessee Right to Life's endorsement of Ty Cobb also underlines a critical reality that people on the Left often fail to realize about pro-life political and social organizations is that they truly are non-partisan. The primary interest of inherently pro-life groups is that the most pro-life candidate is elected in every political contest, so that pro-life legislation is most likely to pass and the unborn be protected. People on the other side of the pro-life question assume that pro-life groups are some kind of issue-based extension of the Republican Party. The only reason that it often appears that Right to Life organizations are some kind of Republican policy arm is that the national Democratic Party-once far more open to the pro-life cause than it is today-has moved much further to the social Left and has made legalized abortion a part of its platform. As a result, pro-life political organizations find themselves often boxed into a corner, forced to endorse Republicans because there is no alternative.
The race in Tennessee House District 62 is presenting the kind of political alternative which from time to time reminds people that the pro-life movement has as its interest no political party, but the protection in law of all life from conception. Republicans inside both the State party and the House Republican Caucus were warned of the baggage which Marsh's candidacy presented in a socially conservative district that is increasingly Republican-leaning, but whose voters almost certainly will pay at least some heed to Tennessee Right to Life's decision to endorse the Democrat in the special election. For some of those voters, it will speak volumes about Pat Marsh, and not in a positive light.
The race is not over for Pat Marsh, but today it has become much more difficult for Marsh politically, as well as equally hard for some conservatives to support him. The immediate victim in all of this could be the House Republican Caucus, which may not get 51 seats because their potential new member has had his conservatism questioned by some very reputable sources.
Comments
Dave,
Then why don't we just let TN Right to Life pick our candidates and design our legislative agenda? Speaker Odom would be the eventual result. Single issues groups need to realize that they need a viable party to enact their legislation but that this means not always getting everything you want. And how in the name of Crick and Watson are stem cells and cloning state issues anyway?
Mark;
As someone who has been involved with internal pro-life politics, I "get it" perhaps in a way that you don't. I am a Republican, yes. I am part of the one, Holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church and a pro-lifer first. My political life is not compartmentalized. I will not support a "pro-choice" candidate in any way, shape, fashion, or form. It is morally and socially reprehensible to do so-period. Stem cells and cloning are State issues because the day will come when the Legislature will be made to regulate or otherwise deal with the genetic revolution, most will at some point. It is a great opportunity, but carries tremendous risk if the wrong people are placed in office. A culture of life cannot be built when the leaders we embrace do not fully embrace it.
(1)"The primary interest of inherently pro-life groups is that the most pro-life candidate is elected in every political contest, (2) so that pro-life legislation is most likely to pass and the unborn be protected."
Think again! You may get #1 but you just failed on #2 If the Pro-Life legislation can't get out of caucus, you have no legislation to protect the unborn. TNRTL needs a political arm, because this endorsement show a clear lack of one.
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