Friday, November 10, 2006
A look at Corker Country
I've been saying for a long time that it is impossible for a Democrat in a contested statewide election to win unless he or she can make inroads into East Tennessee. Ned McWherter famously did well in upper East Tennessee in 1986; Sara Kyle did very well in East Tennessee in 1994 when she ran successfully for the now-defunct Public Service Commission; and Phil Bredesen campaigned hard in the counties in an around Knox County in 2002 and was elected governor as a result.
If we look at the county-by-county map from this year's U.S. Senate race, we see that Harold Ford, Jr., aka Junior, did well in the state's Yellow Dog areas, i.e., urban Davidson and Shelby Counties, the counties near the Plateau, and the "My great-great-great-great grandpa was a Democrat and I am, too" counties near the Tennessee River in West Tennessee. But it was in East Tennessee that this - and every - statewide race was decided. Indeed, East Tennessee was a sea of Corker red. Junior made a fine showing in Hamilton County, but he was dusted in the counties in upper East Tennessee ... and that was his undoing. To wit:
If we look at the county-by-county map from this year's U.S. Senate race, we see that Harold Ford, Jr., aka Junior, did well in the state's Yellow Dog areas, i.e., urban Davidson and Shelby Counties, the counties near the Plateau, and the "My great-great-great-great grandpa was a Democrat and I am, too" counties near the Tennessee River in West Tennessee. But it was in East Tennessee that this - and every - statewide race was decided. Indeed, East Tennessee was a sea of Corker red. Junior made a fine showing in Hamilton County, but he was dusted in the counties in upper East Tennessee ... and that was his undoing. To wit:
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Friday, November 10, 2006 
