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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Politics / Woods It's Odom vs. Fitzhugh for Democrat Leader

Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 9:53 AM

click to enlarge odomzam.jpg
Odom and his new bride. Photo courtesy of Kleinheider. Craig Fitzhugh is challenging Gary Odom to become leader of the Democrats in the state House, and the caucus could meet this weekend to vote. Fitzhugh, chair of the House Finance Committee, is from Ripley (believe it or not), and his candidacy may represent the last gasp of the old West Tennessee Democratic mafia. He won’t say it, but his sales pitch is likely that Odom is a screwup whose mistakes contributed to the Democratic election debacle. If they elect Odom as their leader, Democrats may be putting their trust in the very one who led them into the political wilderness. As majority leader, Odom feuded with House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, and some Democrats are complaining that the bickering between the two kept the party’s House campaigns in disarray. “Call it the taking-your-eye-off-the-ball syndrome,” one Democrat tells Pith. “Remember: Here's a guy who bolted for his honeymoon in Europe during the budget's crunch time this year.” Some House insiders also are grumbling because Odom fired the caucus' longtime polling and mail vendors. These guys arguably had a better sense of the House districts than the folks Odom replaced them with. Additionally, Odom apparently got crossways with the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which helps organize and fund legislative races around the country. They sat out of Tennessee for most of the cycle. Odom’s message to the Democrats? You owe me. Late in this year's cycle, he raised more than $126,000, then gave at least $39,000 of it to more than 30 House candidates and incumbents. (As an aside, it should be noted that one of Odom’s single-largest sources of money was the Bells Bend developer crowd; from them, he raised nearly $10,000, including $4,000 from the May family, $3,000 from would-be bridge builder Bell Construction, and $2,500 from Waller Landen’s PAC). The caucus was planning to meet Sunday, but to avoid a conflict with the Titans game, the meeting may be delayed until later in the month. It will likely be closed to the public. Update: Hobbs slaps Fitzhugh, and Kleinheider kneecaps Odom. Update II: We called Odom for his comment, but he's not talking to Pith ever since we wrote about how he was fighting on the side of the incredibly wealthy last session and wanted to slap a new tax on Wal-Mart. Gary, we miss you. Update III: Odom's fight for very rich people curried favor with the aforementioned Bells Bend developer crowd, which later gave lots of cash to Odom. We just thought we'd point that out. C'mon Gar, give us a call. We talked to Fitzhugh this morning from Ripley. Here’s the Q&A: Q: Are you running for Democrat leader? Fitzhugh: We had a tough election and so I just decided to throw my hat in the ring at the last minute, last Friday. So yeah, I’m working the phones. Q: What’s your spiel? Fitzhugh: I just know that we’ve just got to bring our caucus together and continue to try to do the things that are right for Tennessee. I’ve been in the House a while and have had some good experience there, and I just think I want to try to do this to keep us together, keep us moving forward and take sort of a journey into what’s sort of uncharted territory for us and to try to keep us on track. Q: You say you want to bring the caucus together. Do you think it’s divided now? Fitzhugh: We’ve got a big tent and we’ve got a lot of different interests but we can coalesce around the basic things that we think are good for our state. When I say bring it together, we’re in the minority for the first time, so it’s going to take a little different approach to work through some issues there than the past. That’s what I’m talking about. Q: What’s wrong with Odom? Fitzhugh: Nothing, not a thing. Q: Wait, that’s not how this works. You’ve got to explain why they should vote for you and not Odom, right? Fitzhugh: I know. Fortunately, I don’t have to tell the whole constituency. I’ve just got to tell 25. Q: You don’t have to tell me either. Fitzhugh: Right. It’s sort of an inside baseball deal. But you know, I think everybody ought to have a choice and we’re just going to see what happens. I just feel like I’ve just got to do this. Q: Do you think Odom screwed up the election? Fitzhugh: No, I think when you have a presidential candidate who’s going to carry 60 or 70 percent of the state, he’s got coattails. That’s what happened. Q: Is this a West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, urban, rural fight? Fitzhugh: No, we don’t need those cliques we’ve had in the past. It’s going to be interesting whoever winds up as the leader. We’ve got to just pull together and do the best we can.

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So Bill Hobbs, the man that sent out racist mail against an African American House member and gleefully fanned racial tensions statewide, has the gall to attempt to criticize someone for a flier left in their campaign office. What a guy.

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Posted by eraserhead on 11/18/2008 at 11:46 AM

Hmmm. Stay in Nashville to debate the budget or jet off to Europe with that PYT. Hmmm. Tough one.
Au revoir!

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Posted by Realist on 11/18/2008 at 1:30 PM

Odom's wife is a babe! What was this post about again? Anyway, I'm sure it was good, Jeff.

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Posted by Jack on 11/18/2008 at 4:51 PM

Yes, we look forward to the "babe" admiration for Sarah as she ages. Hope it all "holds up"!

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Posted by POT on 11/18/2008 at 6:14 PM

At least Odom has enough respect for women to let them make decisions about their own bodies. I don't believe Fitzhugh can say the same. One party's leader being anti-choice is quite enough. Give 'em Hell, Gary!

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Posted by NashTeach on 11/18/2008 at 6:43 PM

Craig Fitzhugh is being charitable.
When Gary Odom first ran, he seemed to be the perfect candidate. I was impressed when he called not only to ask for my vote but to discern what I thought were the most pressing problems in my state house district.
Once Gary was elected things seemed to get even better. Odom had a top-notch assistant who was able to navigate the Bredesen-imposed obstacles I experienced as a TennCare recipient by not only going the extra mile, but by working miracles.
Now, she's gone. I'm on Cover TN (which is almost as bureaucratic and ineffective as TennCare) and Odom's response to pleas for help, expressed to him at increasingly infrequent public meetings on health care, is "Call my office."
Calls to Gary's office are taken by an assistant who is equally kind as, but who has less power than, his predecessor. Ethan's response to the issues I raise is "I'm going to have to have Gary call you."
It sure would be great if Odom would...

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Posted by Stacy Harris on 11/19/2008 at 8:43 PM
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