The party was sweet, but it was short. In the halls and history books of the state Legislature, 1995 and 1996 may be remembered as the only time Republicans had controlled the Tennessee state Senate since the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction. But the 1995-96 power shift only came about when two senators—Sens. Rusty Crowe and Milton Hamilton—switched parties midway through their terms.

By making a net gain of two seats and re-establishing their traditional place at the controls of both the upper and lower houses of the state Legislature, Tennessee Democrats will take back the Senate chamber, wresting it from the GOP’s fragile 17-16 grip. The new makeup of the state Senate is 18 Democrats to 15 Republicans.

Four races involved party switcheroos: Incumbent Democratic state Sen. Danny Wallace lost in a challenge from GOP state Rep. Mike R. Williams. Nevertheless, Democrats made gains elsewhere. Gallatin City Council member Jo Ann Graves, a Democrat, toppled sometimes controversial Republican Sen. Don Wright, sending the one-term legislator home to write more novels. State Rep. Roy Herron, a Democrat from former Gov. Ned McWherter’s hometown of Dresden, took the seat left vacant by the retirement of GOP Sen. Milton Hamilton. And Democrat Rosalind Kurita from Clarksville, a Democrat, bumped off another freshman senator, Republican Carol Rice.

Meanwhile, embattled Sen. Carl Koella from Townsend hung on against a Democratic challenger, former state legislator Mae Owenby, despite recent negative publicity stemming from a fatal traffic accident in which Koella had left the scene.

And so the Democrats are back.

Naifeh vs. Rone

Democrats were expected to maintain a comfortable majority in the state House, where they had a 59-40 lead going into Tuesday’s election. But the race to topple the Legislature’s second most powerful man, Jimmy Naifeh, wasn’t nearly the squeaker Republicans were hoping it might be. House Speaker Naifeh easily fought off teacher Theta Rone—the woman with the apple—despite rumors statewide that Naifeh’s campaign was in trouble.

That race became, after all, a personal vendetta. Rone is the daughter of former state legislator Al Kelley, who beat out Naifeh for a seat in the Legislature in 1972. The race became even more personal when Naifeh urged Democrat Houston Gordon to run against U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson this year. While Gordon was not much of a threat to Thompson, Naifeh’s recruitment gave the U.S. senator all the incentive he needed to go politicking on Rone’s behalf. Just days before the election, he was campaigning for her from the back of his red pickup truck.

Some observers thought the race had tightened up in recent weeks because of a flap that Naifeh could have prevented if he had only taken the advice of at least some of his closest associates. The rowdy Tennessee Young Republican Federation seemed unimpressed by the conventional wisdom that it might not be wise to mess with the mighty Naifeh, lest his anger should continue into the next legislative session. Boldly, they filed a formal complaint with the state Registry of Election Finance, alleging that Naifeh had not properly disclosed the lobbying activities of his spouse, Betty Anderson. The Young Republicans’ allegations turned out to be true.

On a disclosure form Naifeh filed with the Registry on Jan. 31, 1996, he responded “none” to the question that asked whether he or his spouse had been compensated for lobbying. It wasn’t until after the Young Republicans filed their formal complaint that Naifeh filed a new statement of interest disclosing his wife’s lobbying activities.

Naifeh, 57, who has been able to navigate the Legislature’s system of committees and subcommittees to kill almost any bill he dislikes, spent more than $176,000 on the campaign. Rone spent only $40,900.

Boner vs. Dale

In Nashville’s most closely watched local legislative race, Bill Boner, the city’s prodigal son, made his official return to the innards of Nashville’s political life by toppling Republican Roy Dale. Dale had been a weak and flawed candidate from the get-go, but Boner easily outdistanced him with some 59 percent of the vote. Boner triumphed by turning out the voters from his home base in East Nashville neighborhoods, and his showing was especially strong among low-income voters in the housing projects sprinkled throughout the area. Among Boner’s campaign tactics: carrying dozens of voters to the polls during the early-voting period and on election day. Occasionally, the promise of a free plate lunch was thrown in for good measure.

“I have worked the people,” a beaming, sweating, hand-pumping Boner said on election day, reveling in his triumphant return to political life after being run out of town six years ago. “I just want to help the people,” he added.

Boner got a clear boost from the recently passed “motor voter” registration law, which enables voters to register to vote when they obtain their driver’s licenses. Some quarter of a million new voters are said to have been newly registered in Tennessee since the law was enacted. The “motor voter” law allowed Boner to snag voters off the street during the early voting period, take them to the polls, and ask them to vote for him.

“Everybody is registered now,” said Jamie Pope, a Boner campaign worker who put in countless hours for the former mayor. “All we got to do is put them in the car.”

Unburdened by a penchant for the more complex nuances of public policy-making, Boner remains admirable for his determination to take care of the things that trouble people. Even while he was on the campaign trail, he was acting like the neighborhood medicine man. While he was out campaigning, Boner called his old buddies at the dog pound, asking them to take care of stray animal problems; he helped a veteran get in touch with the authorities who could handle a pension problem; and he obtained $6,500 for an elderly couple who were owed that amount because of a problem in a TennCare snafu. The item was reported on WTVF-Channel 5, and Boner got some positive press.

What may be most interesting about Boner’s election is the degree to which he upsets the applecart of East Nashville politics. Boner replaces the highly educated and refined Bill Purcell, who was aligned with the city’s “progressive” crowd. In addition, a number of other progressives have served in the various Metro Council districts that are enveloped by the East Nashville House district. The calculus is now redefined. And with the 1999 mayor’s race already in the planning stages, William Hill “Bill” Boner, who sits atop the much-coveted 52nd House district, will once again be calling a few more shots.

This much is certain: Boner will once again be a voice to listen to, and the progressives will be howling.

Haynes vs. Varallo

In the days leading up to Tuesday’s election, internal polls indicated that state Sen. Joe Haynes had maintained a safe percentage of support in his district over his challenger, GOP Metro Council member Vic Varallo. In the end, Haynes won the race with 61 percent of the vote.

The Goodlettsville attorney is planning to make himself scarce for the next few days, in order to rest from the stress of a campaign that was utterly nasty and negative. Meanwhile, with its hopes of bumping him off utterly deflated, the state GOP is licking its wounds.

In terms of candidate recruitment, the Varallo candidacy was one of the Republican Party’s worst decisions statewide. During the campaign, Republicans could not leave Varallo alone to answer reporters’ questions, for fear of what the Democrat-turned-Republican would say. Varallo, a chili cook and former coach, is well liked in many circles, but his lack of political savvy is undeniable. Varallo has predicted that, after the negative attacks launched in the race, he and Haynes won’t be shaking hands for a while. He seems to have forgotten that he started the name-calling.

Metro charter changes

In the most important of the four referendum questions on the ballot, Davidson County voters sent a resounding message to all candidates: They don’t like any of them. After supporting a two-term limit for Metro Council members and the vice mayor two years ago, they renewed their anti-incumbency sentiment by voting “no” on the option to extend the limit from two terms to three.

The vote was a narrow one, with about 52 percent voting “no.” While no one actively campaigned for the question, many Metro Council members supported the measure as a means of keeping experienced local legislators in Council. As a result of this week’s vote, all current Metro Council members who have served at least one prior term will be prohibited from running again in 1999.

Voters approved three other ballot questions, including one that severely limits the amount of time voters have to recall local officials. Nearly 80 percent of Davidson County voters approved the question that would require residents who want to oust the mayor, the vice mayor, or Metro Council members to register a petition, after which they would have 30 days in which to gather the signatures necessary for a recall election. Previously, the only restrictions on recall elections were that they could not be conducted during the first six months or final three months of an elected official’s four-year term. In other words, before the new law was passed, voters had more than three years in which to gather enough signatures to bump someone out of office.

Two other “housekeeping” ballot questions also passed—one requires that competitive bids be taken on Metro purchases and contracts over $1,000, and another one sets Metro runoff elections five weeks after general or special elections so that they comply with state law.

— Liz Murray Garrigan

Sameness triumphs in the national races

A world at peace.

A good economy.

More of the same.

In the end, on election day, as Tennessee voters took to the polls to claim their stake in the nation’s political destiny, Bill Clinton took the Volunteer State with ease. Meanwhile, that great whooshing sound you just heard was crown prince Al Gore Jr. breathing a massive sigh of relief.

In the end, in the state’s congressional contests, the status quo also ruled. The congressional gains etched out in Tennessee by three Republican freshman in the revolution of 1994—Zach Wamp in the Third District, Van Hilleary in the Fourth, and Ed Bryant in the Seventh—remained intact. Congressman Bob Clement took Nashville—the Fifth District—with one hand tied behind him. In the most closely watched congressional contest in the state, in the nearby Sixth District, incumbent Bart Gordon survived yet another brutal assault and defeated Nashville lawyer Steve Gill, who was making his second attempt to roust Gordon from the office. Even if it looks as if Gordon is in for a lifetime congressional sinecure, one can only wonder how much longer he can keep taking blows to the head such as the ones Gill handed out this time.

Meanwhile, to no one’s surprise, Fred Thompson kicked a whole lot of tail. About the only interesting angle on the Thompson victory is the one that relates to Lamar Alexander. Already said to be plotting another shot at the White House in 2000, Alexander must have been wondering what to do about all those “Thompson for President” signs being waved about at the Republican Party’s celebration at the Hermitage Hotel.

If the national contest—that of Clinton vs. Dole—was described by the national media as one big yawn, the voters seemed comfortable enough with the ennui. The U.S. Senate stayed Republican. So did the U.S. House. There was no evidence that the nation’s heartstrings were being tugged by the urge for great change. There was no overwhelming discussion of restricting terms in office, limiting the influence of special interests in Washington, throwing out the rascals, or forcing in a breath of “outsider” air into the nation’s corridors of power. Altogether, the election returns seemed to reinforce the impression that voters—who are witnessing solid economic growth and are content with global peace—are feeling few real threats to their home and hearth. They have plenty of new evening television programs to keep their little minds occupied; why worry about changing the course of human destiny?

At the same time, however, the election was in many ways a demoralizing one. If the nation seemed comfortable, that may have been because none of the candidates was advocating any radical change. Except for Ross Perot, who seemed more comfortable holing up in his Dallas mansion and making an occasional $1 million advertising buy, all the candidates kept their feet planted on conservative, middle ground. All in all, they said little and offered even less.

It’s hard to know what would have happened if someone had truly argued against the fact that the government is no longer run by the people, but by professionals. It’s difficult to predict what would have happened if somebody had actually made the point that government is out of reach of the common man because it is in the hands of the rich, that the decisions are not made by us, but by them.

That was the argument that swept the Republicans to glory in 1994. Somehow, that theme was thrown out the window when the Republican revolutionaries nominated a Washingtonian fossil to be their standard bearer. Quickly, all that hot passion evaporated into a pall of election-season hot air.

Clinton vs. Dole

There’s a story that, shortly after Bill Clinton slipped into his own personal crisis after the 1994 elections and found himself kicking Socks around the White House hallways, he summoned former Gov. Ned McWherter to Washington. McWherter, the quintessential Southern conservative Democrat, flew to the White House for a chat.

Clinton had asked McWherter what to do during the next two years. Clinton wanted to know what he could do to get reelected, what he could do to gain the support of conservative Southerners like McWherter.

When Clinton posed the question, McWherter reportedly came back with some simple advice: “Park your butt in the middle of the road, and don’t move.”

Clinton did exactly that. Transformed into a Republican, and with Hillary suddenly on assignment as an envoy to various remote Asian nations, Clinton took up every theme the GOP had ever offered. Meanwhile, it didn’t hurt him at all that Dole and the Republicans were acting in a consistently stupid manner.

In Tennessee the Dole campaign found itself spinning its wheels. Michigan Gov. John Engler, one of the country’s most reform-oriented Republican governors, despaired in the final days of the campaign that Dole hadn’t just handed over control of his campaign to numerous Republican governors like Engler himself. Had Dole followed that sort of strategy in Tennessee, and if Don Sundquist had been given free rein, the results might have been substantially different.

Vice President Al Gore Jr., meanwhile, ordered his functionaries to schedule him—and the president—on flights to Tennessee whenever they could find available landing space. Gore knew he needed a strong showing at home if he is to run for the presidency, as he very likely will, in 2000.

And so things went well for Clinton here. Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign had very short coattails in Tennessee. Gore may have taken the White House for himself and Clinton, but he appears to have done nothing else for anyone else.

The preliminary returns for Clinton-Gore in Davidson County were virtually identical to the Clinton-Gore returns in Nashville four years ago. In 1992, the Democratic ticket received 52 percent of the vote here, with 38 percent going to Bush and 10 percent to Perot. This time around, in the earliest returns available, Clinton-Gore chalked up 51 percent.

Thompson vs. Gordon

The red truck rules.

Even before his overwhelming victory, Thompson was expecting a win of almost mythic dimensions. He achieved that and more. He is now being spoken of as having aspirations that reach all the way to the White House.

“Keep your eyes on that name,” NBC anchor Tom Brokaw told viewers as a victory check appeared in the box beside Thompson’s name. “Four years from now, he could very well be running for president of the United States.”

If Thompson lacks depth, he more than astonishes through sheer dramatic appeal. Put him on TV, and the telegenic meters go haywire. To many, Thompson exudes a Reagan-esque charm: easygoing, optimistic, and well-versed in manipulating cameras wherever they may be.

Houston Gordon, Thompson’s opponent, was doomed from the start. Lacking any statewide visibility, and watching his campaign funds drivel up so miserably that he couldn’t buy any TV ads, Gordon has entered the history books. His showing was even worse than the one managed by Republican Victor Ashe in his 1984 Senate race against Al Gore Jr.

Tennessee Republicans have usually had an easy time of it whenever they have decided to run for higher office, simply because there have been so few of them around. However, Thompson’s boomlet is a threat to former presidential candidate and Tennessee homeboy Lamar Alexander. Despite Alexander’s loss in the presidential primary season this year, he is sure to make another try for the White House. As one prominent Republican recently said, “It may not be too long before Thompson just tells Lamar that it’s time for someone else.”

The thing about Thompson, however, is that he may not have the guts to work that hard for a prize like the presidency. That said, Vice President Fred Thompson might be just his kind of job.

Bryant, Hilleary, Wamp

Two years ago, they appeared on the Tennessee stage. And this time around, Van Hilleary in the Fifth District, Zach Wamp in the Third District, and Ed Bryant in the Seventh District retained their seats. The state’s three Gingrich revolutionaries will be back on the job.

A lot of labor money was thrown out against the threesome. But nothing worked for the Democrats. In the end, these congressional races are further evidence of slippage of Southern Democrats in national politics. Tennessee is increasingly a Republican state.

Gordon vs. Gill

Nashville attorney Steve Gill has lost again.

This time around, the race had a different feel to it. Gill had more money, but he had no big Republican groundswell on which to rise. Gordon knew he might be helped by a strong showing from Clinton, but by the same token he would be hurt by his district’s changing demographics.

It’s highly likely that, one day, the Sixth District seat is going to be held by a Republican. The district is just becoming too suburban and wealthy; there is no way it’s not going to go for the GOP.

But for some reason, Sixth District voters decided that Gill wasn’t the Republican they had in mind. In several well-written articles, the Banner’s Jeff Woods pointed out that Gordon just kept the upper hand in the ongoing mano-a-mano battle. Repeatedly, Gordon lured Gill into various traps, and he kept him there.

Gordon has survived more tough contests than one would expect, given his relatively young age. He was first elected to Congress in 1984 in a race against the brother of Nashville Banner publisher Irby Simpkins, and even in that race, a mega-tonnage of negativity was dropped on his head. Two years ago, he survived another nuclear bombfest. This time around in his victory speech, Gordon was even moved to apologize for the apparent mean-spiritedness of this year’s sordid spectacle.

One of these days, nevertheless, it’s gonna catch up with him.

Clement vs. Nobody

Even given the Democratic tradition that continued in the local races, Bob Clement, who was running against virtually no one, reinforced the theory that Republicans aren’t going to be doing much in Nashville for a long, long time.

He came, he saw, he conquered. Not bad for a guy who doesn’t have a whole lot going for him except his family name.

— Bruce Dobie