It's not exactly an October surprise. In the campaign attack that everyone was waiting for, the state Democratic Party is making certain all of state Rep. David Hawk's Upper East Tennessee constituents know he's accused of beating up his wife. As you can see, the mailer sticks to the facts. They are certainly damning enough all on their own.
Missing from the mailer, of course, are Hawk's claims of innocence. The state's latest "family values" politician to go to jail returned to the House of Representatives on March 19 and declared, "“I did not harm my wife." He said he didn't have a clue how she came by that bloody lip and those bruises on her face.
In the House chamber that night, there were hugs and claps on the back and even a fist-bump for the accused wife-beater from his colleagues. But will voters send him back to Nashville?
His race is rated a tossup. Democrat Eddie Yokley, a former House member himself, is challenging him. Hawk managed to eke out a win in his Republican primary, and he says he's confident voters won't believe the allegations against him.
"They know what I'm capable of doing; they know what I'm not capable of doing," he said. His campaign slogan: "You know me. You know my heart."
