McKamey's statement:

"I would like to thank all of you for your support during this primary campaign. It has been a true pleasure to meet and work with so many fine Democrats in nearly every corner of our great state.

I encourage all of you to continue to promote positive change within our state and within your communities. Go to your local commission meetings, attend your local school board proceedings, keep in contact with your representatives and let them know that we still need a whole new attitude in Tennessee!

Thank you all!"

Moreover, McKamey is exactly right on every issue important to Democrats, especially public education.

I'd like to think if Dem leadership would have drawn up a choice candidate, it would have been McKamey.

Herron should hold a press conference to announce the Democratic nominee for governor and then do the Party a favor, announce his departure from his position in a cloud of dust.

Like Pigpen.

Someone wanted him in this race. Someone who didn't want a credible candidate like McKamey to win the nomination. Someone who didn't want any semblance of a race at all.

What a disgrace. He should be fired.

This is worse than Mark Clayton.
McKamey wasn't 'Recruited.' He simply stepped up and offered the state party the gift of a good candidate. And they did zero to help him.

There's only one thing worse than a good Republican and that is a bad Democrat.

This is the Mark Clayton and Park Overall fiasco all over again.
Clearly the TNDP can't even find paper to wipe itse;f with. Look at it's website; it hasn't been changed in months.
The Powers That Be in the DP said Herron would fix the Party.
Wrong again.

BTW: I knew about McCaney, actually had a telemarketing call for his candidacy and I voted for him.

If this clown Brown were to step down- today
Could the TNDP appoint a new candidate?

If not, this Governor's race will assure both the Green Party and the Constitution Party future recognition by the state. If either of these two parties pull 5% of the votes in this or the US Senate race then the state must allow them on the ballot in the future.

Filed this story on July 9:

McKamey seeks to save Democrats from themselves

By Betty Bean

Last week, John McKamey made a 200-mile round trip to Knoxville from his home in Piney Flats to talk to the Central City Democrats about why he’s running for governor. He’s pretty much going it alone, and his short-term objective is to save the Tennessee Democratic Party from itself.
He doesn’t want another national embarrassment like the one they suffered through two years ago when part-time flooring installer/Tea Party supporter Mark Clayton took advantage of his superior alphabetical position on the ballot and beat opponent Park Overall to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, facing Republican Bob Corker. The Washington Post, among others, named Clayton, whose most prominent supporter was Republican Stacey Campfield, the worst senate candidate in the country, and the Tennessee Democratic Party became a national laughingstock.
With this in mind, McKamey is acutely aware of the perils of low name recognition and inferior ballot position, and points out that two of his opponents have catchy names – Charlie Brown and Kennedy Johnson.
“None of the other candidates are campaigning, to my knowledge, but I’ve been trying to point out that alphabet issue every time I speak,” he said.
McKamey spent 23 years as a Sullivan County commissioner and 4 years as county executive, and gets real serious when he talks about the issues, explaining that he spent 50 years in public schools as a student, teacher and coach, and he strongly disagrees with what’s happening in Tennessee’s public schools and got tired of waiting for his party to produce a serious opponent to challenge Gov. Bill Haslam.
“The party did not recruit me. I did it on my own. I Called the state chair asked Mr. (Roy) Herron if they had anybody in mind. He said they were searching for someone.

“I started two days before the deadline. Somebody has got to stand up for education and for women and for people who are being denied health insurance,” he said.
He’s not a supporter of the Common Core State Standards, which he labels as “Test, test test.”
“Teachers want to teach the student – not to the test. They’re making robots out of teachers and robots out of students, and all they’re talking about is numbers and statistics.”
He’s not a fan of vouchers and charter schools and says he’d hire an experienced classroom teacher as commissioner of education.
He says his concern for women’s rights has been sharpened by past experience.
“When I was a county commissioner, there was a lady applied for a raise, and county commission, including me, kept turning her down. When I was county executive, she sued, and won. And she was right. I’ve been to court and I always remember the 14th Amendment. It means equality for everybody.”
And he has an even more personal reason:
“My wife had rheumatic fever in high school that damaged her heart severely. When we got married in 1960, her doctor told us she couldn’t stand a pregnancy. He told her ‘If you get pregnant, you come here and we will take it,’ so we never had children. I trusted the doctor’s and my wife’s judgment and we never did have to make that decision.”
So for now, he’s crisscrossing the state, firm in his belief that once he survives the primary, statewide media will start paying attention, financial help will flow his way and it’ll be a whole new race.

If it's any consolation, he carried Knox Co. 50.64%. Guess some folks around here were paying attention. Betty's article and the News Sentinel endorsement probably helped him here.

EDIT: Charlie Brown beat him 2 to 1 in Davidson Co., where he came in third. WTF?

When was the last time that the party out of power offered a serious candidate with real support against an incumbent governor seeking re-election? I can't remember a single time.

For as long as we've had two term governors, it seems like the Parties have operated under some tacit agreement that they would trade the governor's mansion every eight years, offering no real opponent to the other party at re-election time. As far as I can tell the last time one party held the governor's mansion over two different administrations was 1967, and that's just because Frank Clement and Bufford Ellington spent 16 years trading the office back and forth.

We've made the Wonkette again...

Q to the TNDP: If those letters are true, how the F*CK did you guys let him on the ballot?

It seems our previous analysis of the Mark Clayton situation, and the applicable state law and party bylaws, is relevant here:

(link...)

I'm guessing the TNDP will do nothing, just like before.

He wants to electrocute the current governor just about halfway until he smells a bit.

(link...)

Well, Herron probably bears some blame for Charlie Brown, but don't let those worthless slugs on the Executive Committee escape blame, too. They had two years since the Clayton debacle to do something about this problem and did nothing. (Well, in all fairness, they did bitch and carp at Herron, and they did get good seats at the national convention.)

The by-laws of the party require neutrality in a primary, but that is insane when it takes only 25 names to get on our ballot and nut cases like Clayton and Brown (and others who didn't manage to get nominated) can qualify. But, as someone said somewhere, there could at least have been some smoke signals.

Yes, McKamey was by far the best, and only, choice. I voted for him, as did pretty much every informed Democratic voter; there just weren't enough of us. Did I hear from my State Chairman, my Executive Committee members, my County Chairman, our House and Senate caucuses about him? No. So as you pile onto the Chairman, and I won't say he doesn't deserve it, don't let these Executive Committee members off the hook. They could have kicked him off the ballot earlier this year when they kicked off Clayton, and they didn't do a damn thing.

KnoxViews exclusive: Democratic candidate for Governor John McKamey on the issues

You did more than your share, Bubba. Other media just ignored thislooming issue, even though McKamey did all he could to sound the alarm.

The age of corporate reform has played hell with news media.

Here's another idea. In addition to the 25 signatures on a qualifying petition, maybe the TNDP should have an "application" that's reviewed and voted on by the EC before the candidate is approved to be on the party primary.

It could have basic bio, statements by the candidate on why they're running, what their goals and priorities are, an explanation of their existing or proposed campaign organization, fundraising and campaigning plan (like a business plan), their voting record, and finally a "where do you stand" checklist of issues.

Maybe the state EC reviews governor and federal candidates, and local party ECs review county/local candidates.

Seems like that would weed out the crazies not so serious candidates. They could also post these "profiles" on the state party's website.

If I'm not mistaken, state law would allow such a thing.

As I posted elsewhere, I don't entirely buy the "voters just pulled the first lever they saw" excuse. Yes, I acknowledge that's what happened, but I don't think the blame is entirely on the voters on this one.

If that were the only factor at play here, wouldn't Terry Adams be the US Senate nominee instead of Gordon Ball?

The TNDP got the nominee for governor they deserved because they did not recruit, fund and promote a candidate they needed. I imagine a map of how much money McKamey spent in each county, along with time spent campaigning in each county, would match up neatly with a map of which counties he fared well in and which ones he didn't.

But, the general message (of silence) from the TNDP this year was, "It doesn't matter who we run, Haslam is a lock for a second term," translated to the voters as "It doesn't matter who you vote for. None of these guys/gals is a legitimate candidate."

When you allow one party to go virtually unchallenged for a seat (I'm looking at you KCDP and the county mayor's race for the past 16 years), then you concede that even when you put up a candidate it's nothing more than a sacrificial lamb and the voters can pull any lever they like without consequence to cast their protest vote against the incumbent because the "winner" of the primary will not have the support or infrastructure necessary to win in the general anyway.

If the TNDP wants to claim that McKamey didn't have enough name recognition to out-poll a lunatic, then the fault isn't entirely the voters.

Actually, his stands on union workers and teachers rights show merit.

And while I'm leery about his stance on putting the bible back in schools, I feel it's only fair to note that he doesn't appear to be proselytizing, merely advocating the teaching of the book as a whole. I understand his acknowledgment of faith is a red flag, but still, it is not possible to understand western civilization, literature, history, philosophy, politics, religions or economics without understanding and knowing the bible. I've held the belief that the Bible should be required (taught by agnostics) in high school for quite some time. This was a theory the late Dr. Drake (whom I'm sure would be quite proud that his status as a regional southern author with limited popular appeal, according to Flannery O'Conner, was still being referred to as expert by former students, well, by me anyway, but I digress) threw on the table in a writing class I took years ago. After hours of pondering his theory, i admit, I agree with him.

I wasn't real happy with the outcome of the Governors Primary, and I do blame the party, but I feel like being able to at least vote for someone with a clear conscience is a step in the right direction. Plus, if he gets elected, he gets to pick a cabinet. It's not like we won't be better off with a Charlie Brown administration than we are with a Haslam.

Please understand the "party" does not pick candidates. Candidates pick up a petition at the Court house, get 20 or so signatures, by the dead line, and there are on the ballot.

It is the voters who then pick the primary winner.

Officers of the state and county parties are bared from endorsing candidates.

There is in the system an expectation that the voters will vet the candidates.

I can anticipate the question, If the system is so broken, why does the Party not fix it.

Some of it is legeslated and cannot be changed.
The party has little chance of removing someone from the ballot.

No my question to everyone griping about the unknown candidates, What did you to to become informed?

If you do nothing to become informed, to whom should you grip?

FWIIW, over in Blount County we were actively trying to find out about all the candidates and we shared what we knew. As a results I knew Charlie Brown was not a contender.

The Green Party sued the state and won the right to host a nominating convention for all races.