Bredesen's attempt to influence the decision of who should lead the House Democrats just backfired:
Tennessee House Democrats elected Rep. Gary Odom of Nashville as their leader in a caucus vote this evening.
Odom, who has been House majority leader while the Democrats controlled the legislature, defeated Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley, Tenn., to become minority leader.
The Tennessean doesn't indicate what the vote count was, only saying that it was close.
However, I can't help but think that had this happened only two years ago, right after Bredesen's 95-county sweep to win re-election, most if not all of the House Democrats would have fallen in line with what Bredesen wanted. As easily the most popular Democrat with the biggest coattails, there wouldn't have been any reason to go against him.
My, how the mighty have fallen. Bredesen has descended from the top of the world (or at least, Tennessee) into irrelevance in only two years, capped off tonight by an embarrassing repudiation from his own party. Again, if you want to lead the Democrats, you could start by being one and supporting the others.
Congratulations to Minority Leader Odom. I hope he'll use this time to find a clear, articulate message for Tennessee Democrats, beyond just "We're less psycho than the Republicans."
(h/t Braisted)
3 comments:
Republicans are howling in laughter. Democrats are too hard-headed to take advice from their popular governor. Instead, they re-up with the same lugnut who introduced them to the minority. We're going to own the legislature for good.
Thanks for your concern. Believe me, when I want to know how Democrats can get back into the majority, the first people I'll ask are those whose interests are diametrically opposed to making that happen.
Bredesen has never been that popular with the Democrats in the legislature, for too many reasons to share here. He actually has no coattails as he has not gotten a single legislator elected in his time as governor. Democrats have decreased in number in both houses. If he had any coattails, this wouldn't have happened, or at least not been at least this bad. Why should they listen to him when, in their minds, he hasn't done anything for them.
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