Tue
Aug 20 2013
07:50 am
State Rep. Joe Carr to challenge Alexander for U.S. Senate
By: R. Neal

The Tennessean reports that the Tea Party has found their candidate. Good luck with that.

SEE ALSO: Alexander responds to conservative calls for his retirement...

UPDATE: Word on the twitter is that Chip Saltsman has left Carr's campaign. (Carr was, until this morning, running for TN4 against DesJarlais.)

Topics:
Andy Axel's picture

+/-

Submitted by Andy Axel on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 9:15am.

"Egomaniac Makes Suicide Run At Incumbent Senator."

Alexander by 15 points. Over or under?

R. Neal's picture

Over.

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 9:18am.
(in reply to Andy Axel)

Over.

Min's picture

Carr's not crazy-crazy...

Submitted by Min on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 9:55am.

...like some Tea Partiers, but he's not all that smart, either. Alexander, but closer than 15 points.

R. Neal's picture

Another interesting angle is

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 10:37am.

Another interesting angle is that Carr was running against DesJarlais, but was getting beat up pretty bad in fundraising by Jim Tracy, who is also running for the seat.

Bait and switch?

Also, if he wasn't doing well against DesJarlais, what makes him think he can go up against Alexander?

Andy Axel's picture

WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR?

Submitted by Andy Axel on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 10:54am.

Via Aunt B:

And B's response:

stalwartdem's picture

Carr's fate

Submitted by stalwartdem on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 11:13am.

Carr gets no more than 30% in the primary. If there is no dem candidate in a primary, dems will crossover and vote for alexander in response to his cutesy "I'm protecting the environment". if there is a dem in the primary, dems will do it anyway. NAME RECOGNITION RULES!

Elwood Aspermonte's picture

Alexander won't finish the next term anyway

Submitted by Elwood Aspermonte (not verified) on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 11:29am.

He'll resign in 2016, Billy Haslam will appoint himself to the Senate and Ron Ramsey will step up as the interim goveror, running again in 2018 as the incumbent.

R. Neal's picture

That's not nearly as crazy as

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 11:40am.
(in reply to Elwood Aspermonte)

That's not nearly as crazy as it sounds. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

Elwood Aspermonte's picture

People have forgotten how Lamar got in there anyway

Submitted by Elwood Aspermonte (not verified) on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 4:35pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

He knew Fred Thompson's time frame and run line for stepping away, Alexander had access to all of Thompson's political structure, donor list, campaign schedule, announced/unannounced schedule/appearance and he started raising money early on to the detriment of the other potential candidates that could have occupied that seat.

Thompson was an underachiever in the U.S. Senate, he and Alexander both fizzled as Republican candidates for the Presidential nomination.

Let's see how quickly they dig up the role of his chief of staff Tom Ingram and the tricks he's pulled and the stunts he's actively engaged in now. Alexander will be hard to knock out, but bigger Rhino's have been primaried out of existence like Richard Lugar and the guy out in Utah. The Haslam money machine won't print the dollars for Alexander like they have in races past, they've got other more pressing concerns right now and those concerns aren't going away anytime soon.

Andy Axel's picture

In a world where Dick Lugar

Submitted by Andy Axel on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 5:41pm.
(in reply to Elwood Aspermonte)

In a world where Dick Lugar and Lamar Alexander aren't conservative enough for the Republican Party... that's comedy gold.

Watching the Republican Ouroboros in action is well and truly a sight to behold.

AnonymousOne's picture

Haslam will either get

Submitted by AnonymousOne (not verified) on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 6:40pm.
(in reply to Elwood Aspermonte)

Haslam will either get unelected or beaten up so badly he won't be worth a tinker's dam. He'll come back to Knoxville, hoping the money will get him a cabinet position (if by fat chance the GOP wins in 2016). He'll either go all out T-Party or do a Mother Teresa to make up for the family's sins. Whatever happens KNS will make Cecil B DeMille look like an amateur in its coverage.

R. Neal's picture

TNDP: Race to the bottom of fear and hate

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 1:37pm.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- State Democratic Party Chairman Roy Herron issued a statement Tuesday saying the Primary for U.S. Senate between incumbent Sen. Lamar Alexander and State Rep. Joe Carr will place Republican extremism and intolerance center stage:

"This Republican Senate Primary will be a race to the bottom of fear and hate. Women and children, workers and the middle class, have much to fear from these two candidates and much to hate about their records.

"In Washington, Senator Alexander voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. In Nashville, Representative Carr voted to strip women of any state constitutional right to choose, not even to save their own lives.

"In Washington, Alexander wants to eliminate the minimum wage. In Nashville, Carr voted against fairly compensating those too injured to work.

"In Washington, Alexander voted for budget-busting tax breaks for billionaires and big oil. In Nashville, Carr abolished inheritance taxes for billionaires and denied college scholarships for the middle class and working poor."

R. Neal's picture

Carr can't spell

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 2:23pm.

Carr can't spell Senate...

(link...)

Andy Axel's picture

And then there's the per diem

Submitted by Andy Axel on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 2:44pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

And then there's the per diem debacle.... it's amazing what things he doesn't know.

...a “Request For Individual Payment” from the legislator’s office must be submitted to and approved by the speaker of the House of Representatives for out-of-session work days. Carr’s per diem requests included more than $7,300 in out-of-session work-day expenses.

According to the General Assembly’s administrative office, Carr claimed nearly $17,000 in per diem, which was more than House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol claimed.

Dude lives in Murfreesboro. I know a number of people who live there and commute to downtown Nashville who don't get reimbursed for mileage, let alone other T&E's.

Min's picture

In his defense...

Submitted by Min on Tue, 2013/08/20 - 3:00pm.
(in reply to Andy Axel)

...Latin is hard.

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