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Haslam skips conservative event to fundraise with Democrats

The story was already quietly circulating among conservative activists present for the Tennessee Conservative Union's Reagan Day celebrationThursday night that Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam had skipped the dinner with its straw poll among the Republican base to attend a fundraiser, and some said the event Haslam was going to an event sponsored by a Democrat. The rumour had already hit some blogs on Thursday, and was so widespread by the time the Reagan Day dinner got underway that Tennessee Conservative Union Chairman Lloyd Daugherty mentioned it in passing in his remarks, saying that he knew that Haslam had other commitments.

 

Since Thursday, it has emerged that Haslam's other commitment was a fundraising reception hosted by Democratic fundraiser David "Ace" Harrington. Harrington has a history of pumping money and support into Democratic campaigns, and The Examiner has heard from multiple sources that Haslam was indeed at the event hosted by Harrington, rather than at the TCU straw poll. While Haslam bought tables and sent campaign ground workers, his absence at an opportunity to "stump for the base" in his own hometown could be viewed as the ultimate snub of that conservative base.

 

 

 

The problem was not, as some bloggers and commentators have hinted, that Haslam is taking money from a Democrat. No one is going to refuse campaign money from people willing to give it to them unless those people are part of some criminal enterprise. Bill Haslam could also use the fact that he has had a fundraiser with Democrats as evidence that he has cross-partisan or bipartisan appeal. The difficulty is that given a choice between fundraising with Democrats or trying to smooth relations with a party base that is already somewhat leery of him, Mayor Haslam chose the former rather than the latter. He saw the Democratic event as more important than strengthening relations with his potential base.

 

The Haslam campaign cannot say that Haslam might have felt unwelcome at the Reagan Day Dinner, because the crowd was truly a diverse collection of the center-right, even the hard center, ranging from Knoxville City Councilman Steve Hall-who is running for Stacey Campfield's old House seat-to the most raging moderate of all, Susan Richardson Williams. I'm sure Bill Haslam could have found some people he felt comfortable hanging around. His absense may actually reveal something of what his campaign strategy really is. Since Tennessee has no party registration and our primaries are essentially open, Haslam may be trying to pull enough Democrats to vote in the Republican primary to impact an outcome which might go against him in a closed primary-he may see crossover Democrats as the key to his Republican primary victory.