Subject: Mike McWherter

• Tennessee Democrats Must Feel Stupid Now

  October 9, 2008

• Doug Horne's Really Stupid Idea

  Doug Horne is calling for the rapidly mushrooming number of Democrats thinking about running for governor to hold a meeting to anoint one of them as the party's nominee. So let me get this straight: Horne and Harold Ford Jr., Lincoln Davis, Roy Herron, Andy Berke, Kim McMillan, Matt Kisber, Mike McWherter, this rich dude named Ward Cammack, and who knows who else would all cram into a room and, after a little polite discussion, they'd emerge and announce some lucky someone as the consensus candi

  January 8, 2009

• Bill Gibbons: Our Chump Du Jour

  Here's the problem with Barack Obama's election. Now, all over the country every two-bit politician with an outsized ego (not a small number of people) is thinking, "Hey, only a year ago, people were saying, 'Barack who?' Lightning can strike for me too! By God, I'm running for something." And so we have Bill Haslam, Zach Wamp and Bill Gibbons running for governor 22 months before the election, and Marsha Blackburn, Ron Ramsey, Beth Harwell, Doug Horne, Harold Ford Jr., Lincoln Davis, Roy Herron

  January 9, 2009

• Lincoln Davis Says He Won't Run for Governor

  While Republican Bill Haslam was raking in an impressive $1.4 million today for his campaign for governor, Democrats lost  a potentially strong candidate of their own. Congressman Lincoln Davis represented, in fact, perhaps the Democrats' best shot at winning the office in 2010. But tonight, he said in a statement that he wouldn't run. As his only reason, he cited his appointment to the important House Appropriations Committee, calling it "an opportunity for the district I represent that I

  January 29, 2009

• Herron Joins Clueless Democratic Field

  What is it about a political campaign that Tennessee Democrats can't understand? Zach Wamp, Bill Haslam, Ron Ramsey and Bill Gibbons all have declared they are running for governor as Republicans. They proudly put out statements selling themselves to the public. Now, they're crisscrossing the state talking to any reporters who'll listen. Democrats hide from reporters. Eventually, if they're backed into a corner, they might admit they're running. It's like they're confessing to a crime. Kim McM

  April 8, 2009

• Gubernatorial candidates launch The Clueless Offensive

  January 15, 2009

• The 2008 Boner Awards: Lowlights from Music City's year of clumsy crooks, posturing politicians and all-around bad news

  December 25, 2008

• Meet the Amazing PhilBot 3000

  August 7, 2008

• Son of Ned

  Democrats tout polls showing Lamar’s beatable after all

  October 4, 2007

• Can Mike McWherter Win as the Son-of-Ned Candidate?

  Sean Braisted asks, "Is it just me? Or does the logo on Mike McWherter's website make it seem like he just scribbled over his father's campaign material?" Here's another question: How many people will vote for McWherter just because his father is Ned? We're guessing not too many. Democratic insiders of a certain age love McWherter--Ned, that is. He represents that golden age when Tennessee Democrats reigned supreme. But to ordinary voters and just about anyone under the age of 50, Ned McW

  May 8, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Lunatics Wander the Streets and the Legislature Refuses to Go Home

  With time wasting, the House and Senate delay voting on their versions of the state budget. Tempers flare in the House, with one lawmaker warning against "insane people wandering around" in communities unless a change is made in a Bredesen budget-balancing bill. ... The House votes to close the tax loophole for real-estate tycoons and to tax the Predators and Grizzlies. ... The gun lobby now wants to keep permit records open for political fund-raising but closed for the media and general public.

  June 17, 2009

• Is Ward Cammack on the Ropes as a Candidate for Governor?

  Ward CammackSo Mark Brown quit the Democratic gubernatorial campaign of the unknown rich Republican, er, we mean newly converted Democrat named Ward Cammack, and we're all naturally wondering why. But the normally loquacious Brown is silent, apparently determined to leave graciously. We hate it when that happens. All he'll say is, "It was time for me to go another direction." What bullshit! So in desperation and single-minded pursuit of the truth, we have turned to our stable of smug anonymous i

  June 23, 2009

• Cammack: 'I'm Not Going to Quit' Belle Meade Country Club

  A defiant Ward Cammack said today he won't quit the lily-white Belle Meade Country Club and denied a Pith report that Democratic donors are refusing to give to his gubernatorial campaign because he belongs. "I belong and I'm not going to quit," Cammack told Pith. Quitting is "sort of the thing to do and I've never fully appreciated it because you know we all have different constituencies of people we may hang out with or are a part of, and I don't see any reason for me to turn my back on anyb

  June 25, 2009

• McWherter and Wamp Lead Early (Meaningless) Governor's Poll

  The Southern Political Report is out with a poll of the Tennessee governor's race. It raises only one question: Why'd they do it? More than a year before the election, it's meaningless except to show the name identification of the candidates at this early stage of the race. And Mike McWherter didn't even earn his name ID. That belongs to his daddy. The results: Democrats McWherter (23%) Herron (13%) Kyle (6%) Cammack (5%) McMillan (3%) Other (16%) Undecided (34%) Republicans Wamp (22%)

  July 14, 2009

• Herron and McWherter Each Report Raising $650,000

  Roy Herron says he's raised $650,000 for his gubernatorial campaign in 30 days. He didn't say whether that includes the $282,000 that's sitting in his Senate campaign account. Still, it sets the bar for Mike McWherter, who unlike Herron could raise money during the legislative session. McWherter needs to top Herron's haul to show, as many observers believe, that he's the strongest Democrat in the race. Herron says: "Old-fashioned hard work, brand new ideas and wonderful friends have been the ke

  July 14, 2009

• With First Official Act as Candidate for Governor, Roy Herron Tries to Trick Reporters

  We have learned two things about Roy Herron from the way he handled this week's campaign financial disclosure, his first official act as a candidate for governor: (1) He's a sneaky little devil who doesn't mind misleading the public and (2) He's got a rat in Mike McWherter's campaign. Regarding the latter point, how else would Herron know for a fact that McWherter was about to announce raising $650,000 for his campaign? Herron's spy nailed it and tipped Herron, leading the senator to announc

  July 16, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Business PACs Empty Pockets for Ramsey and Other Big Surprises

  Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey collects $170,000 in campaign cash linked to trade groups, businesses and other special interests. Spokesman Brad Todd calls it "no surprise that people who advocate pro-growth policies would support him." Ramsey also fluffed up his fundraising total by tossing in $120,000 from his Senate campaign account. Todd says any suggestion the campaign was trying to pump up his fundraising to look stronger than Zach Wamp is "not true." ... McWherter campaign manager Kim Sasser Hayden

  July 17, 2009

• What the Democratic Money Means

  With a bit of creative accounting in his first campaign financial disclosure, Roy Herron succeeded in preventing Mike McWherter from claiming the frontrunner mantle in the Democratic governor's race. That's according to Pat Nolan, who also says Kim McMillan raised "barely enough" to stay in the race. Why is this important? Well, so far, this Democratic race has not had a clear frontrunner. If Mike McWherter, the son of the former Governor Ned McWherter, had been able to use these financial disc

  July 20, 2009

• The sorriest candidates money can buy are headed our way for governor in 2010

  July 23, 2009

• Along with McMillan, Herron and Kyle Supported State Income Taxes Too

  Ward Cammack: the Democratic nominee by default. In privately dissing Kim McMillan, Democrats always name her vote for the Sundquist state income tax as a particularly troublesome aspect of her pathetic little candidacy for governor. But two of her Democratic rivals--Roy Herron and Jim Kyle--also have supported the income tax in the past. Kyle actually sponsored an income tax bill with John Wilder in 2002. It would have levied a flat-rate 6 percent state income tax and repealed the then-6

  July 24, 2009

• Who's the Boss? Judging by Ticket Prices, It Ain't the Guy Who Sings 'Jungleland'

    Who holds more clout in the public arena, rock stars or political figures? If we want to keep score in the brutal terms of the marketplace--e.g., the ticket prices they command--here's how a king of rock stacks up against a former POTUS. Tickets for former President Bill Clinton's Jackson Day appearance just went on sale at noon, while tickets for Bruce Springsteen's show at Sommet Center go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Here's how they match up: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, S

  July 24, 2009

• The Coming Budget Crisis: Candidates for Governor Are Clueless

  ​State government is twirling down the toilet. Everyone knows it. The economy knocked a billion-dollar hole in the tax base, an unprecedented revenue loss, and that money isn't coming back because we're so heavily reliant on the regressive and inelastic sales tax. Once the federal stimulus money disappears in 2011, the governor at that time will be forced to take a hatchet to state services, namely health care, prisons and education. Dr. Stan Chervin, an economist and analyst at the Tennes

  August 10, 2009

• Republicans Demand Apology from Lots of Democrats for 'Brownshirts' Remark

  ​Republicans are again demanding an apology from Madison County Democratic Party chair T. Robert Hill, or from just about anybody else in the Democratic Party for that matter. John Tanner, Jim Kyle, Roy Herron, and Mike McWherter are all "noticeably silent," says an outraged state GOP chair Chris Devaney. Of course, Devaney doesn't really care whether anybody apologizes for Hill, who called Young Republicans "brownshirts" for organizing town brawls on health care reform. Devaney thinks th

  August 13, 2009

• McWherter Supports Ban on Gay Adoption

  ​Mike McWherter has informed a blogger that he's all for one of the Christian Right's most deplorable pet causes: A ban on gay adoption. Do you support a proposed ban on unmarried (including gay) couples adopting children? McWherter does support the ban, and feels that having parents of the opposite sex is better for a child. He says that the Department of Children's Services reports to the governor, so as governor, he would be responsible for children in need of this service. I followed up

  October 9, 2009

• McWherter Campaign Defends His 'Heartfelt' Position Against Gay Adoption

  ​We thought Mike McWherter might claim he was misquoted or taken out of context, but he's sticking with the comments he made to this blogger about gay adoption, his campaign says. Yes indeedy, he favors making it illegal for gay people to adopt children. It's his "honest, heartfelt" opinion, spokesman Mike Kopp tells Pith. On the other hand, Kopp says, doing a little tap dance, McWherter wouldn't try to enact such a ban into law if he's elected governor. It's heartfelt, but not that heart

  October 9, 2009

• Cammack Slams McWherter on Gay Adoption

  ​Ward Cammack has just accused Mike McWherter of playing politics with orphans (or words to that effect). Pith in the Wind put out calls to all the Democratic candidates for governor this morning to find out what they think about gay adoption and about McWherter's opposition to it. Cammack is the only one to respond. "I'm for gay adoption. That's easy for me. Mike McWherter is playing politics with this issue. Just saying carte blanche that gay people should not be able to adopt is the wr

  October 9, 2009

• Herron Says He's Against Banning Gay Adoption Too

  ​It took Roy Herron three days, but he finally has responded to Pith's request for his position on gay adoption: "The fundamental question is this: what's best for the children? I don't yet see evidence that the Bredesen administration's policy is doing wrong by Tennessee's children. I'm told that not enough married couples are adopting special needs children. Those children don't need more laws making adoption harder and condemning them to being shuffled from foster home to foster home.

  October 12, 2009

• McWherter Kinda Sorta Walks Back Opposition to Same-Sex Adoption

  ​Gubernatorial hopeful Mike McWherter ran into a bit of a political buzz saw last month when he told a blogger that he supports a ban on adoption by same-sex couples. Today McWherter revisited the issue in response to a question at this morning's Dem/progressive "Kitchen Cabinet" breakfast. His philosophical view is unchanged: "I believe that a child should be placed in a traditional loving home," McWherter said today. "I view it as a child rights issue, not any other group's issue." But mi

  November 11, 2009

• Morning Update: Fabulousness Edition

  ​It was a nonstop Swiftian orgy of fabulousness at last night's CMA Awards show in downtown Nashville. ... A new Pew Center report compares state economies on their resemblance to the fiscal disaster that is California, finding that Tennessee is better off than most: we get a B- for managing finances and our not-like-California score outpaces 30 other states. California, it will not shock you to discover, scores worst on the not-like-California metric. ... State departments here are plannin

  November 12, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Entire Audience Falls into Coma at Shocking First Gubernatorial Forum

  ​The seven candidates for governor tout their education goals at a forum at Belmont and, by all accounts, it's a stick-to-the-script affair. From the Chattanooga Times Free Press, this handy rundown of the candidates' points of emphasis:

  January 15, 2010

• Morning Roundup: What's Happening at the Fairgrounds and Centennial Park

  An ex-Metro cop gets indicted for aggravated sexual battery of a child younger than 13. ... Mountaintop coal mining can turn Tennessee's waterways into a sea of toxic selenium, scientists tell legislators. ... Paddleboats and a merry-go-round are among the ideas locals tell a visiting architectural firm they'd like to see in an upgraded Centennial Park. ... Metro school bus drivers aren't happy about a possible pay cut. ... There'll be a state fair at the Fairgrounds this year after all. Also st

  March 10, 2010

• Mike McWherter is becoming the Democrats' contender in the governor's race by default — which could be the party's best hope

  March 11, 2010