There's a lot of evidence that Bob Tuke isn't running a real campaign against Sen. Lamar Alexander. Exhibit A, of course, is his reticence to weigh in on Alexander's support for Gus Puryear, the embattled federal judicial nominee. This is Alexander's most vulnerable area right now—as the senior senator in Tennessee, Alexander has shepherded Puryear's nomination, which is now stalled after a heap of controversy over Puryear's representation of CCA and his membership at the eternally discriminatory Belle Meade Country Club. But displaying the political instincts of a gnat, Tuke won't take on his opponent on the Puryear issue, and I think it's because he knows the nominee and likes him. I've tried to find that out for sure but, as I think I've mentioned here before, he has refused to call me back. But there's another reason Tuke is not ready for prime time. He used evite, a free email-based party invitation service, to spread the word about his $1,000 a plate fundraiser. As a result, he outed the people who weren't able to attend and put them in the awkward spot of explaining their absences, which were many. “Thanks for the invite, but the cost is prohibitive to me,” wrote Abby Rubenfeld. “Good luck, though.” Yeah, he'll need some of that.
