It's no false alarm this time: state Sen. John Wilder, 83 years old and still puttering along in his 17th consecutive term as Tennessee's lieutenant governor, has actually got a race on his hands.
Four years ago, Wilder faced a decent Republican candidate by the name of Bob Shutt, mayor of the small town of Savannah in southwest Tennessee. Many observers thought that Shutt had a real shot at defeating Wilder, since the district—once a bastion for yellow dog Southern Democrats—had become GOP territory, and the income tax battles were raging. But Wilder managed to dispatch Shutt without much of a fight, drawing on the financial trappings inherent in his position as well as his own popularity among Republicans.
This year, though, the story is quite different. There's a very good chance that, on Nov. 2, John Wilder's four-decade-long tenure will come to an abrupt end. One reason is simple demographics: Wilder's district is even more Republican than before, as the sprawling Memphis suburbs creep eastward across the Shelby County line and into Fayette County. Another reason is his opponent Ron Stallings, an amiable accountant (there really is such a thing) from Bolivar who's out pushing the theme that it's well beyond time for a change.
This has been a prevailing sentiment for a long time, especially given the lieutenant governor's increasingly bizarre public persona. While he was once a highly respected political icon, people nowadays only seem to notice John Wilder when he does something odd like when he recently lurched into a non sequitur rant about the rights of biological fathers vis-à-vis abortions in front of a group of female lawyers. Or when he does something embarrassing, like when he "apologized" to a black public official for his statements on racial issues by stating that when he, Wilder, "comes back, I wish I would be black." Sometimes, Wilder manages to be both odd and embarrassing, like when he called Stallings' family members to discourage him from running.
The biggest reason he's in trouble, though, is Wilder's loss of support among his erstwhile political allies. Many Democrats have long been disillusioned with Wilder, who is philosophically well to the right of the party's center, but few have dared to openly criticize his obviously waning abilities. Enter Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, who doesn't suffer incompetence gladly. Bredesen raised eyebrows last week when he openly—and, by the standards of Capitol Hill protocol, rather severely—disparaged Wilder's lack of leadership on the floor and in the backrooms of Tennessee's upper house. When your own party's very popular leader calls you out, you've got a problem.
Worse yet for a man who is a poster child for bipartisan collaboration, Wilder has clearly lost much Republican backing. In 2000, many Senate Republicans openly crossed party lines during campaign season to back their Democratic benefactor. This year, however, only three have done so: Republicans Tim Burchett of Knoxville, Micheal Williams of Maynardville and Curtis Person of Memphis. Attrition accounts for some of this: Many of the Senate Republicans who supported Wilder in the past are gone. But a lot of it seems to be because Republicans aren't as enamored with Wilder as they once were and, more importantly, they smell blood in the electoral waters.
For the unconvinced, here's one last note. In theory at least, Wilder remains popular among voters, but the pre-primary financial disclosures filed last month tell an interesting tale. While Stallings reported $44,500 in itemized contributions, much of which came from numerous folks within the district, Wilder reported just one contribution from the constituency he has represented for 40 years running. Granted, this report did not reflect the results from the fundraiser he had last week, but let's face it, that's not a good omen.
Kerrymania!
With some space donated by a local managed care outfit called Dual Diagnosis Management, the official John Kerry for President headquarters for Davidson County has opened at 227 French Landing in MetroCenter. The interior walls of the office, which doubles as the headquarters for the Davidson County Democratic Party, are plastered with all things Kerry-Edwards (a lot of bric-a-brac from Boston by the looks of things) and are sure to please your inner donkey, if you have one.
The folks over there cordially invite you to stop by and offer to volunteer, pick up a bumper sticker or just say hi. If you can't figure out where it is as you drive aimlessly around MetroCenter's maze of nondescript buildings, just keep an eye out for the blue "Kerry for President" car flags in the parking lot.
