Former Republican Governor Backs Obama

I raise your failed Congressman, wannabe Governor, Uncle Tom dejour Artur Davis with

Former successful Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist!

Former Gov. Charlie Crist: Here’s why I’m backing Barack Obama

I’ve studied, admired and gotten to know a lot of leaders in my life. Across Florida, in Washington and around the country, I’ve watched the failure of those who favor extreme rhetoric over sensible compromise, and I’ve seen how those who never lose sight of solutions sow the greatest successes.

As America prepares to pick our president for the next four years — and as Florida prepares once again to play a decisive role — I’m confident that President Barack Obama is the right leader for our state and the nation. I applaud and share his vision of a future built by a strong and confident middle class in an economy that gives us the opportunity to reap prosperity through hard work and personal responsibility. It is a vision of the future proven right by our history.

We often remind ourselves to learn the lessons of the past, lest we risk repeating its mistakes. Yet nearly as often, our short-term memory fails us. Many have already forgotten how deep and daunting our shared crisis was in the winter of 2009, as President Obama was inaugurated. It was no ordinary challenge, and the president served as the nation’s calm through a historically turbulent storm.

The president’s response was swift, smart and farsighted. He kept his compass pointed due north and relentlessly focused on saving jobs, creating more and helping the many who felt trapped beneath the house of cards that had collapsed upon them.

He knew we had to get people back to work as quickly as possible — but he also knew that the value of a recovery lies in its durability. Short-term healing had to be paired with an economy that would stay healthy over the long run. And he knew that happens best by investing in the right places.

President Obama invested in our children’s schools because he believes a good education is a necessity, not a luxury, if we’re going to create an economy built to last. He supported more than 400,000 K-12 teachers’ jobs, and he is making college more affordable and making student loans, like the ones he took out, easier to pay back.

He invested in our runways, railways and roads. President Obama knows a reliable infrastructure that helps move people to work and helps businesses move goods to market is a foundation of growth.

And the president invested in our retirement security by strengthening Medicare. The $716 billion in savings his opponents decry today extended the life of the program by nearly a decade and are making sure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted in excessive payments to insurance companies or fraud and abuse. His opponents would end the Medicare guarantee by creating a voucher that would raise seniors’ costs by thousands of dollars and bankrupt the program.

We have more work to do, more investments to make and more waste to cut. But only one candidate in this race has proven a willingness to navigate a realistic path to prosperity…(more)

Lighting a Fire – Personhood Bills

The newest group legislation pushed by Republicans across the state legislatures is called Personhood. It is a direct attack on Abortion, by declaring a fetus a person at the moment of conception.

The pushback against this legislation nationwide is just beginning to gain steam… But in Virginia it seems to have gone from zero to 900 MPH in just a few days…

Think maybe Gov McDonnell may be looking at the end of those future political ambitions.

Opposition mounts to Va. personhood bill

A petition opposing two abortion-related bills winding through the Virginia legislature is spreading like “wildfire.” In just over 24 hours, 17,000 people have signed the measure that says the Virginia government is conducting a “war on women.”

The petition is organized by ProgressVA. Most of the signatories say they are Virginia residents and most are women, and the message they give is clear: The government is overstepping its bounds.

“This war on women has got to stop,” the petition reads. “Virginia may be the butt of jokes for late night comedians, but the bills coming out of the General Assembly this year are no laughing matter.”

Catherine from Richmond wrote next to her name: “I say to you men in the Virginia legislature – Leave our bodies alone. This is not your place; this is not your right. What you’re doing is immoral.”

The online petition through signon.org has been spreading quickly, largely through social media. (In the thirty minutes it took me to write this story, 300 additional people added their name.)

“We’re absolutely pleased and frankly a little overwhelmed,” with petition response, Anna Scholl, Executive Director of ProgressVA, said. “It’s been spreading like wildfire.”

The petition is addressed to The Virginia State Senate, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling and Governor Bob McDonnell as they are instrumental in the future of these bills. (McDonnell is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. He has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate.)

The Virginia House of Delegates passed HB 1, also known as the “personhood” bill, this week. It defines a fertilized egg as a person, and according to the legislation, “provides that unborn children at every stage of development enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of the Commonwealth.”

Virginia would be the first state in the nation to define a fetus – and a fertilized egg – as a person. It passed the General Assembly and the Senate could take it up as early as this week, if it chooses.

The second bill petitioners object to is HB 462, which requires a woman receive a transvaginal ultrasound before an abortion. Both bodies of the legislature have passed this measure and only needs Republican Gov. McDonnell’s signature before it becomes law.

Scholl says they will continue to spread the word and hope to deliver the petitions as early as this week.

“These recent policies turn my stomach. I believe in fiscal conservatism. Stop mixing it with my personal rights,” Lisa Schroeer of Charlottesville, Virginia wrote.

Bad Night for the Reich Wing – Good Night for America

In what are considered bellweather elections prior to the 2012 contests, Republicans went down on a lot of fronts…

Miss. defeats life-at-fertilization ballot prop

Mississippi voters Tuesday defeated a ballot initiative that would’ve declared life begins at fertilization, a proposal that supporters sought in the Bible Belt state as a way to prompt a legal challenge to abortion rights nationwide.

The so-called “personhood” initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters, falling far short of the threshold needed for it to be enacted. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion. Supporters of the initiative wanted to provoke a lawsuit to challenge the landmark ruling.

Ohio voters reject Republican-backed union limits

The state’s new collective bargaining law was defeated Tuesday after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the Republican establishment.

In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers. With more than a quarter of the votes counted late Tuesday, 63 percent of votes were to reject the law.

Democrats, unions cheered by election results

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, a folksy moderate Democrat, cruised to victory as expected with about 56 percent of the vote over a Republican and an Independent candidate.

The only bad news? Johnny Dupree lost in his run for Mississippi Governor. Republican Phil Bryant had 59 percent of the vote to 41 percent for Democrat Johnny DuPree, with 43 percent of the votes counted. If DuPree had won, the mayor of Hattiesburg would have been the first African-American to win statewide office in Mississippi in modern times.

 

Black Folks in Texas Speak Up About “Big Hair” Perry

One of the ways to find out how good or bad a candidate is…

Is to ask the folks at home.

Texas Blacks advise looking at the real Rick Perry

Not Just and Empty Suit... But an Empty Toupe

Perry’s standard line is that he can do for the nation what he has done for Texas, which he says is create jobs, maintain public education and balance the budget without raising taxes. But the numbers, and Black residents of the state, tell a different story.

“I just want America to wake up and look at the true picture,” said Karen Hasan, a postal service supervisor and Texas resident for 32 years. “He’s [Rick Perry] talking out both sides of his neck.”

Residents speaking to the AFRO about Gov. Perry were largely in agreement, citing unemployment, substandard jobs and a failing public education system among the governor’s biggest shortcomings. “I haven’t seen him try to create any jobs for people or anything,” said Texas native Regina Holley, 53. “I don’t think he’s done anything that’s worked out well for Texas.”

Charles Dorsey, 62 and a Texan for 35 years, said many of the jobs being created don’t even pay minimum wage, adding, “Texas has the lowest average hourly income of any state in the United States other than Mississippi. I think people need to understand the type of jobs being created.”

Along with the unemployment and jobs situation in the state, native Texan Ronni Bowman, third year student at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, referenced the large number of residents without health insurance.

Saying that he panders to special interests, Melanie Spratt-Anderson, the first Black and three-term Upton County attorney, said Perry’s only interest in health care came in the form of a 2007 executive order to inoculate girls, by the sixth grade, with Merck’s Gardasil while at the same time refusing to sign legislation to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The state legislature was able to stop this action and Perry’s connections to Merck were under scrutiny. She said, “Anybody that has enough money to contribute to him, will get what they pay for.”

Dorsey questioned Perry’s transparency. “Unfortunately, the people of Texas cannot even get his calendar for last month or months before. … One of the things that really bothers me is that the guy is so secretive about what he’s doing that every seven days all of his emails are purged. So people don’t really know what he is doing and what he has done.”

Dorsey also called Perry “one of the biggest phonies I have ever seen,” with George Powell, a 15 year Texas resident, adding, “He has a reputation for being all fluff. Everything is ceremonial.”

Which probably explains why each one dismissed Perry’s Houston day of prayer and fasting. Powell said, “Clearly it was just to jumpstart his campaign.” Hasan added, “I think it’s a ploy to get more votes.”

Saying that Texas politicians pander to conservative Christians, Spratt-Anderson added, “It was purely to get the votes. I wish Christians would stop falling for that.”

“That’s why I’m saying he’s a phony,” said Dorsey. “Up until recently, Rick Perry has not been a very religious person. In fact, if you ask his church, he’s only tithed like $98 for the whole year. But now, all of a sudden, he’s become this religious person, [saying] that we can pray everything away. 

“Unfortunately if people fall for this, we’re in a world of trouble.”

No one recommended Perry as a candidate to look at when voting for president. “I think we’d be looking at another George Bush,” said Spratt Anderson. “… I don’t think it would be good.”

Powell concurred, saying that while Perry is probably the best in the Republican field right now, all that really means is that he is just the least objectionable of a lot of really bad choices. Holley said, “He’d just bring more destruction to the people of the United States.”

“The country is in trouble and needs someone with the ability to get us out reasonably,” said Dorsey. “I want people to really look at the true Rick Perry. Because if they did, they would never vote for him.”

Meet Mayor Johnny DuPree, of Mississippi – Now Running For Governor

Governor candidate makes history in Mississippi

Mayor Johnny DuPree of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, won the Democratic runoff for governor on Tuesday (August 23), setting the stage for a fall general election against Phil Bryant, Mississippi’s Republican lieutenant governor. DuPree becomes the first African-American in state history to clinch the gubernatorial nomination for either party, The Hattiesburg American reports.

DuPree defeated Clarksdale, Mississippi, businessman Bill Luckett, gathering 55 percent of the vote. The three-term mayor enjoyed the support of “some of the state’s political heavy hitters,” including two of his former Democratic primary opponents and U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, The American reports.

But DuPree faces a big challenge in November. Bryant has consolidated his support among Mississippi Republicans, and the lieutenant governor has a major fundraising advantage. He has already spent $3.1 million to introduce himself to voters, more than twice the amount spent by DuPree and Luckett combined.

DuPree also has tough demographic trends to overcome. The Associated Press notes that Mississippi’s population is 37 percent African-American, and that the state has more black elected officials than any other. But the wire service also notes that the trend does not extend to statewide office: Mississippi has not elected a black statewide representative since Reconstruction.

Chris Matthews – Texas Republican Governor Rick (Big Hair) Perry a “Wax Clown”

Don’t hurt ‘em Chris!

Chris Matthews: Rick Perry A ‘Clown’ Full Of ‘Texas B.S.’

Chris Matthews didn’t mince words on his Friday show when it came to the newest entrant into the GOP presidential race.

Rick Perry formally entered the 2012 campaign on Saturday, but everyone knew that he was running days before. On Friday’s “Hardball,” Matthews made it clear that he doesn’t think much of the Texas governor. As he watched the footage MSNBC was playing of Perry, Matthews openly mocked him–and his Texas ways.

“He looks like a clown,” Matthews said. “He dresses very fancy. There’s something about the way that he puts himself together that doesn’t look authentic. He looks like, I don’t know, a wax figure pretending to be governor. There’s something about him that doesn’t add up to me. Maybe it’s this Texas B.S., this boots and tuxedo thing they do down there. Why does it work? Outside of Texas it doesn’t travel very well.”

Matthews also criticized Perry for mangling the history of Texas’ relationship with the rest of the U.S. Matthews said that, unlike what Perry has claimed, Texas never had any clause in its founding documents that allowed it to secede from America. He wondered whether Perry was being “deliberately ignorant” in his telling of the state’s history.

Of Pirates, Wisconsin Republican Governors, and Whack Jobs – Blackmail

Apparently the Wisconsin Governor is down to threatening to metaphorically kill hostages if he doesn’t get his way. Not much difference between Scott Walker and a Somali Pirate…

Somali Pirate...

Republican Scott Walker...One's a Thug on the High Seas, the Other on Land.

Wisconsin governor tells absent senators: Return or 1,500 get laid off

Gov. Scott Walker warned that Wisconsin could take steps Friday to lay off 1,500 state workers — unless 14 absent lawmakers return to the state Capitol.

The lawmakers fled to Illinois to prevent a quorum for voting on the state’s budget repair bill, which would limit collective bargaining to wages and require public workers, with the exception of police and firefighters, to cover more of their retirement plans and health care premiums.

Walker has said the measure is needed to get the state’s financial house in order.

He said Thursday night that the state would “have a legal and moral obligation to start forewarning people” of impending layoffs if the legislators did not return to the Capitol at once to vote on the measure. He warned the state could send layoff notices before the weekend.

The layoffs would take effect April 1, Walker said.

Well… If this scam fails – I guess Walker can try fellow Whack-job Warren Jeffs’ routine!

Free Me, or Face Doomsday: Warren Jeffs

What conservatives mean by alternate energy...

Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs declares that doomsday is imminent in a rambling document he claims is a revelation from the Lord.

The nine-page copyrighted document promises deadly, catastrophic events if the self-proclaimed prophet is not released from jail in Texas, where he awaits trial.

“Let this nation know I am with my people, and shall sweep the wicked from the face of the Land of America,” it states.

Passages indicate that deadly storms and earthquakes can be expected “soon.”

Jeffs, 55, heads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a sect that practices polygamy and is based in an isolated border area of northern Arizona and southern Utah about 150 miles from Las Vegas.

The bizarre document, written and numbered in biblical style, is titled “A Warning to the Nation — A Petition to the President of the United States of America.”

His brother Lyle Jeffs and Vaughn Taylor, high-ranking members of the FLDS, signed off on the document as witnesses “to the word of the Lord” received and delivered by Warren Jeffs.

Various media outlets have reported that the document has been mailed to President Barack Obama, members of Congress and federal officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

Shagging Moose… Maine (R) Guv LePage, BPA and Bearded Women

Obviously, following the current nomination process of the Republican/Tea Party Maine Governor Paul LePage has thrown his hat in the ring as a Presidential candidate. One needs a certain number of gravitas free, utterly off the wall pronouncements to fire up the base to form an exploratory committe to begin to rake in the bucks from the Koch brothers…

“Gravitas free, and utterly-off-the-wall” once being fine qualifications for a stand up comic – now being the sole qualification in the ReTea Party to be elected to high position.

Governor Lepage’s stunning viewpoint adds yet another layer onto the Republican vision of Right Wing America once defined by the physically attractive if low IQ and disturbingly ditzy – Palin, Bachmann, and Coulter, to add yet another requirement on what it means to be a “real woman” (Mama Moose?) in the new ReTea Party…

A Beard.

LePage dismisses BPA dangers; ‘worst case is some women may have little beards’

The political debate over bisphenol A is heating up in Maine after Gov. Paul LePage’s recent comments questioning whether the controversial chemical is as dangerous as many scientists claim.

And LePage’s unusual quip about some women growing “little beards” from exposure to BPA likely will add another wrinkle to an issue on track to be one of the most contentious of the legislative session.

In his comments last week, LePage said he has yet to see enough science to support a ban on BPA, a common additive to plastics that some research suggests may interfere with hormone levels and could cause long-term problems. LePage said until scientists can prove BPA is harmful, the state should not rush to restrict its use.

“Quite frankly, the science that I’m looking at says there is no [problem],” LePage said. “There hasn’t been any science that identifies that there is a problem.”

LePage then added: “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.”

That last comment prompted a strong reaction from Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, a Maine-based advocacy group.

“It displays shocking ignorance for the science and a callous disregard for children’s health,” Belliveau said.

 

According to eHarmony Governor... You're compatible!!

 

 

They Bought 5 Supreme Court Justices… Governor Scott Walker was a Bargain!

Corruption in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. Whether it is Republican Judges in Pennsylvania taking kickbacks to lock up kids in private prisons on minor offenses, or corrupt Supreme Court Judges like Scalia and Thomas taking money, and getting their marching orders from the Koch brothers…

Wisconsin Protesters in State Capital

 

Seems the Koch brothers buying spree didn’t end with judges and the usual Congressman and Senators…

They bought a Governor.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Funded by the Koch Bros.

Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, whose bill to kill collective bargaining rightsfor public-sector unions has caused an uproar among state employees, might not be where he is today without the Koch brothers. Charles and David Koch are conservative titans of industry who have infamously used their vast wealth toundermine President Obama and fight legislation they detest, such as the cap-and-trade climate bill, the health care reform act, and the economic stimulus package. For years, the billionaires have made extensive political donations to Republican candidates across the country and have provided millions of dollars to astroturf right-wing organizations. Koch Industries’ political action committee has doled out more than $2.6 million to candidates. And one prominent beneficiary of the Koch brothers’ largess is Scott Walker.

Alabama Governor and “Non-Believers’”

Hmmmmmmmm…..

Alabama governor touches off controversy with Christian comments

Alabama Republican Gov. Robert Bentley is kicking off his first term in office with a bit of controversy, telling a church audience Monday that he only considers Christians to be his “brothers and sisters.”

“Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters,” he told parishioners at a Baptist church in Montgomery Monday shortly after being sworn in. “So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

“There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit,” Bentley also said, according to the Birmingham News. “But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister.”

Rebekah Caldwell Mason, Bentley’s communications director, was not immediately available for comment but told the Birmingham News that Bentley “is the governor of all the people, Christians, non-Christians alike.”

Bentley also celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. in his speech and said he will govern in accordance with King’s teachings.

‘I was elected as a Republican candidate. But once I became governor … I became the governor of all the people. I intend to live up to that. I am color blind,” Bentley also said.

 

Pigs Get Fed… Hogs Get Slaughtered

Looks like a regular Hog Roast in California… Meg Whitman spent $141 million of her own money, and Carly Fiorina spent $40 million

It is looking more and more like the MSM’s propagandized Republican sweep…

Pigs Get Fed... Hogs Get Eaten

Got swept out from under them.

Jerry Brown’s lead doubles in a month; little change in Senate race

…Brown, the Democratic attorney general and former governor, led Whitman 52% to 39% among likely voters, the poll found. His advantage has more than doubled since aTimes/USC poll in September.

The abrupt movement in the race for governor came as Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer held onto her 8-point margin over Republican Carly Fiorina in the U.S. Senatecontest. Boxer’s 50% to 42% lead was statistically unchanged from September’s 51% to 43% edge.

For both Democrats, the month between the two polls found the party’s strongest supporters rallying to the candidates’ sides: liberals, women and Latinos either solidified or expanded their backing for Brown and Boxer. Nonpartisan voters, whom Republicans had counted on to overcome the Democratic advantage in voter registration, moved away from the two Republican candidates, and moderate voters also tilted toward the Democrats.

Paula Bennett, a schoolteacher in the Sacramento-area town of Acampo, said she was drawn to Brown in part by the blizzard of cash Whitman has thrown at the race.

“I like the little guy; he didn’t have the money behind him like she did,” she said in a follow-up interview, adding that she sided with Brown for the same reason that she favors a mom-and-pop establishment over a retail behemoth.

“We don’t shop at Walmart. We shop at the local store. He just seemed like more of a down-home candidate.”

NY Governor Debate – “The Rent is too Damn High!”

From the NY Governor Debate last night…

“The Rent is Too Damn High Party”

Kiss and Tell

Wow! As if the 2010 Republican candidates could even get more freaky! You got your garden variety Witch, a yard Nazi, latex luger, Manchurian whores, and Porno plasterers…

No wonder there is so little press about a conservative accusing a Gubernatorial candidate of getting her freak on in the backseat of her Escalade!

A little “backseat Mamba” with somebody you’re not married to…

Just can’t compete!

No idea whether any of the accusations against candidate Haley are true – or just your typical nasty right-wing campaign smear turned against one of their own. What is inherently consistent here is the conservative violent and puerile reaction to a person of (in Haley’s case, dubious) color winning a major political seat – much in the same way the right has reacted to the Obama Presidency. Now, Haley is no heroine – in that she chose to politically sleep with these conservative racist scumbags in the first place. But the campaign against her, by other conservatives seems more than a bit over the top…

And consistent.

Blogger offers affidavit with details about alleged affair with married SC gov. nominee Haley

In an affidavit to a group of Republican activists critical of Haley, Will Folks states he had “romantic encounters” with the state representative in her Cadillac SUV, his apartment and her Statehouse office. He said the physical relationship ended in June 2007, when he began dating the woman who is now his wife.

“Rep. Haley specifically requested that I notify her in the event this relationship was getting serious so that she could ‘back off,’” the statement reads.

Haley’s campaign again denied all of Folks’ claims, which were made without any proof.

“There is something about the days just before an election that make certain people want to get back in the newspapers,” said Haley campaign manager Tim Pearson. “These accusations weren’t true in June, they aren’t true now, and those who continue to be fixated on this nonsense really should look into getting some professional help.”

Folks, 36, provided the three-page affidavit to the two-week-old group calling itself Conservatives for Truth in Politics, which is questioning Haley on various issues. It was sworn before a South Carolina notary public and signed by both but is not filed in any court.

The conservative group is clearly critical of Haley but says it will not endorse either her or her opponent, Democratic state Sen. Vincent Sheheen. Lobbyist Larry Marchant, who came forward to say he had a one-night stand with Haley in 2007, told The Associated Press he, too, will provide an affidavit to the group.

 

Tennessee Dems Reject The Race Card, Republicans Reject Religious Bigotry

Blogged a few weeks ago about Ex Memphis Mayor Willie Henreton’s attempt to knock off incumbent Steve Cohen in a majority black district - Ex Mayor Herenton Plays the Race Card in Tennessee based largely on race.

Tennesse Democrats weren’t buying, and handed Steve Cohen a victory yesterday in a landslide.

Tenn. Dems Reject Ex-Mayor’s Race-Based Campaign

Congressman Steve Cohen Seen Here With The Prez

The former longtime mayor of Memphis, who unabashedly campaigned for voters to send him to Congress because he is black, was overwhelmingly defeated by the white incumbent in Thursday’s Democratic primary…

Willie Herenton, Memphis’ first black elected mayor, pushed the race angle throughout his campaign for the 9th District House seat, saying he’s more representative of majority-black Memphis than U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, who is white and Jewish. Herenton had said he wanted to diversify Tennessee’s all-white, 11-member congressional delegation. But with 78 percent of precincts reporting, Cohen had 54,897 votes, or 79 percent, to Herenton’s 14,254 or 21 percent.

Cohen said his victory sends a message that “Memphis is a city on the move and not a city of the past.”

Herenton urged his supporters to back Cohen. Before Thursday, the 70-year-old Herenton had never lost a political race and served 4½ terms as mayor before retiring under the cloud of a federal corruption investigation, which now appears to be over. Cohen, a two-term congressman, countered Herenton’s tactics with endorsements from President Barack Obama and Harold Ford Sr., the first black elected to the seat and senior member of a powerful political family.

“I’m the kind of guy that was always the winner. For whatever reason, it was not part of God’s master plan,” Herenton said.

Democrats have held the seat for more than three decades and Cohen will be the heavy favorite to win in November.

In other election news, apparently internet favorite Basil Marceaux, was not able to overcome… a lot of things… as Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam swept the crowded Republican field -

Mayor and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Haslam at a Montgomery County, TN Republican Meet and Greet

Also Thursday, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam won Tennessee’s Republican gubernatorial nomination after a contentious and expensive 19-month campaign. Haslam, the dominant fundraiser of the race, triumphed over U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp and state Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey. With 2 percent of precincts reporting, Haslam had 115,705 votes, or 52 percent, to Wamp’s 59,922 votes, or 27 percent. Ramsey had 43,308 votes, or 20 percent.

State Senate Speaker and Lt Governor Ron Ramsey, whose pronouncement that the Constitutional Guarantee of Religious Freedom doesn’t apply to Muslims roiled the political atmosphere, came in 3rd.

Move Over Alvin Greene! Meet Basil Marceaux

Just in case you thought whatever is impacting candidates running for office this year and reducing them to bumbling idiots is just a Demopcrat disease…

Meet Basis Marceaux, Republican Candidate for Governor in Tennessee!