My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He was an officer in ROTC in 1968 while he was in college and went to Vietnam as a Lieutenant the year I was born. My father felt an obligation to his country and a duty to serve when called. I was born in a snowstorm in rural Minnesota while my father was halfway around the world in the jungles of Vietnam. I am proud of my father and his service to my country. When I was a teenager, going to private Catholic school, I was approached by military recruiters. I was encouraged to join the military and to enlist in the ROTC program, much like my father had been. For whatever reason, I declined. I was not yet a peace activist like I became after the first gulf war, but something in my instincts told me that I could not serve in the military the way my father had served.

Fundraising, endorsements, and more.

Tom Humphrey talks with Mike McWherter about his run for U.S. Senate against Lamar Alexander.

McWherter says he is "all but certain" he is running and will announce officially in three or four months. He says support in East Tennessee will be "determinative."

There was speculation that McWherter was waiting to see what Fred Thompson would do before announcing, the conventional wisdom being that Thompson would bring out a huge GOP vote if he's on the ticket. We speculated here last week that if McWherter is running he must not think much of Fred's chances.

This interesting quote from the article confirms it: "I’ve seen the polling and don’t think Fred will be the Republican nominee."

Following up on yesterday's unconfirmed report, Mike McWherter makes it official:

"I want to continue the dialogue on how we change the direction in our country for the future of our kids and grandkids. Forming an exploratory committee is a key step in my own decision-making process."

He added: "This process will be brief, but deliberate. Running for U.S. Senate is a big decision. I want to make sure it's the right one, for me and my family."

I just checked, and MikeMcWherter.com was registered in May 2007 under a proxy.

I wonder if he was waiting to see what Thompson would do, thinking that a tag team of Lamar! and Ol' Fred would get more GOP dead-enders to the polls than an anti-gay marriage or a free-guns-for-everybody amendment. Maybe McWherter is picking up signals that Thompson isn't all that and may not even be on the ticket, and that Democrats are ready to vote this time because they learned from Ford v. Corker that if we stay home they win.

Or something.

UPDATE: A challenge from the local GOP/Freddie booster club. Are y'all going to take that?

Nashville Post sources say he is forming an exploratory committee.

From Congressional Quarterly:

The Senate also may vote on a “sense of the Senate” resolution that would say the policy of the United States is to "combat, contain and roll back" Iran and its surrogates in Iraq.

Lieberman is a co-sponsor.

The Webb amendment that would have given troops more time at home between deployments was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Senate Democrats could not get enough votes for cloture to end a Republican filibuster of the bill.

Tennessee Sens. Alexander and Corker both voted against cloture, which is a vote against the amendment.

As Sven noted yesterday, Alexander had said just the day before that he was "studying" the amendment and might consider it.

But Alexander and Corker both decided to once again toe the Bush party line. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) said "The White House has been very effective of making this a loyalty test for the party."

Sens. Collins and Snowe of Maine, Coleman of Minnesota, Sununu of New Hampshire, and Smith of Oregon were the other Republicans who supported the troops, along with every Democrat.

Former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell's name had been tossed out as a possible Democratic opponent to Sen. Lamar! Alexander in 2008. Looks like he has other plans. (By way of ACK.)

Paging Mike McWherter to the bat phone...

Another Mike McWherter sighting, this time at the Weakley County Democratic Rally.

Newscoma has the scoop, including notes from a brief interview and an extensive roundup of buzz.

Newscoma's prediction: McWherter is in, and will announce in the next couple of weeks.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is up for reelection, is posturing distancing himself from Bush and the Petraeus report and getting some bi-partisan support:

"My answer is, let’s have a change in mission as rapidly as we can," said Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who next year will defend a seat rated by CQ as "Republican favored."

Alexander and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., have jointly proposed changing the mission of troops from combat to support, to reduce the presence long-term and to increase political and diplomatic efforts.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., embraced Alexander’s proposal Monday as a model for bipartisan compromise because it calls for a long-term military presence in the Middle East.

This is the same Sen. Alexander that has voted with the Bush administration every single time on Iraq.

In related news, the Knoxville News Sentinel had an unbelievably absurd front-page above the fold big bold headline today that said "Bush to endorse troop removal" with the sub-head "Speech to outline plan to cut forces in Iraq by 30,000 with conditions." Those would be the 30,000 troops he sent over for the surge. Even Bush is distancing himself from Bush.

The sad thing is, people will buy this B.S., and will be talking about how Bush and the Republicans are doing something while Democrats are sitting around making up silly ads and arguing over whether we should surrender to Iran or al Qaeda.

Democrats need to start calling it like it is, and send all these creeps home that we can in 2008. We need to start by moving Alexander's seat from "Republican favored" to "in play." Who's going to step up to the plate? Democrats need to quit avoiding tough fights and waiting around for wounded candidates to run against.

Mike McWherter was spotted at a five-county Democratic Party Labor Day picnic in Clarksville.

According to the article, McWherter spoke the crowd and said he is "seriously considering the option" of running for Senate against Lamar Alexander. He said Republican policies on Iraq are wrong, and that the Bush administration is "mortgaging our country's future" with out of control debt.

McWherter was introduced by Kim McMillan, Senior Advisor to Gov. Bredesen. Other notable speakers mentioned in the article were TNDP Charmian Gray Sasser, State Sen. Rosalind Kurita, Rep. Jim Cooper, TN AFL/CIO president Jerry Lee, and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers president R. Thomas Buffenbarger.

There was a straw poll, and Hillary Clinton was the "clear favorite" with Edwards coming in second.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that Mike McWherter is still the front runner among unannounced candidates to challenge Sen. Lamar Alexander for U.S. Senate.

According to the article, the other two potential candidates, Bob Tuke and Kevin Doherty, say they will step aside if McWherter decides to run, and the three will unite to elect the Democratic nominee, whoever it is.

Soon-to-be-former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell is another name being mentioned, but his office says he is "focused on finishing up his mayoral term" which ends Sept. 21st. McWherter had said he will make a decision after Labor Day.

In our opinion, any of these candidates would be strong, but so will Alexander. Things could get especially interesting if Bill Purcell decides to test the waters. Read the article for more remarks from the other potential candidates.

(By way of Senate 2008 Guru)

By way of ACK, the Commercial Appeal has an update on two Tennessee Democrats considering a run against Lamar Alexander for the U.S. Senate:

Mike McWherter, a Jackson, Tenn.-based beer distributor and son of former Gov. Ned McWherter, and Bob Tuke, the Nashville lawyer who was until recently the state Democratic Party chairman, both confirmed Tuesday that they're considering the race.

The article has some interesting quotes from the two potential candidates and the state GOP and Democratic chairs.

I'm curious why soon-to-be-former Mayor of Nashville Bill Purcell's name hasn't also come up.

Are you for or against a national id? And why? The Senate votes tomorrow!

BoingBoing has some details as well as a link to a site which will fax your senator (if you oppose).

Personally I do not feel strongly one way or another about this one but that is probably because I have not followed the news on it. 17 states oppose it so there must be something bad about the proposal. I look forward to seeing comments here.

In 2004 Republicans won a majority in the Tennessee Senate for the first time since 1869. They couldn't agree on a Majority Leader so the Dems maintained effective controlled under John Wilder. In 2006 the margin stayed the same but Rosalind Kurita helped the Republicans elect Ron Ramsey as Lt. Governor, giving the GOP control over the State Senate for the first time. The GOP quickly set up committee chairmanships and considered how they'd realign legislative priorities.

But just a couple months in, one of their own jumped ship and became an Independent. With Mike Williams of Maynardsville now a Democratic-leaning Independent, the Senate is back to 16-16-1, with Dems in legislative command. Never was this more apparent than today's vote to pass the 42 cent cigarette tax. The measure passed by a 17-16 margin, with Williams voting with all the Dems, and all the Republicans voting against.

AC Kleinheider made the point a week ago (I can't find the link) that Kurita's move was actually a good one for Dems because it lets us flush out DINOs like Wilder and start over with bona fide Democrats. Republicans still control committee chairmanships but they don't have the votes to pass anything. The cigarette tax was the first major party-line vote and it proved ACK right. Kurita even ADDED 2 more cents to the measure. The Tennessee Senate has effectively passed back into Democratic hands with this vote.

The Senate yesterday rejected two separate amendments to the immigration bill that would eliminate the Z Visa legalization program and limit the Y Visa guest worker program by phasing it out after five years.

The vote against sunsetting the Y Visa guest worker program was close at 49-48. (Earlier in the week, the Senate rejected an amendment that would have eliminated the Y Visa immigration program altogether by a vote of 64-31.)

The vote against eliminating the Z Visa legalization program was 66-29. 26 Republicans joined 38 Democrats and two independents to vote for the legalization program. Nine Democrats voted against it. They are: Pryor (D-AR), Landrieu (D-LA), McCaskill (D-MO), Baucus (D-MT), Tester (D-MT), Nelson (D-NE), Dorgan (D-ND), Byrd (D-WV), and Rockefeller (D-WV).

Sens. Alexander and Corker both voted to eliminate the Z Visa legalization program. Sen. Corker, a co-sponsor of the Y Visa amendment, voted for sunsetting the guest worker program. Sen. Alexander voted against it*.

The Senate has delayed a vote on the full immigration bill until June.

See here for more info on the immigration bill including the Y Visa guest worker program and the Z Visa legalization program.

*UPDATE: Looks like Sen. Alexander may have been the swing vote against the Y Visa sunset? ACK has more observations and speculation.

By way of Keith Olbermann, another Republican Senator, Gordon Smith of Oregon, is cutting and running from Bush's Iraq policy:

I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that anymore. I believe we need to figure out how to fight the war on terror and to do it right. So either we clear and hold and build, or let's go home.

He also quotes Churchill: "The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."

Here's the full text of Sen. Smith's remarks.

I don't pay much attention to TV schedules and such and so I just noticed on http://atrios.blogspot.com/ that among the scheduled guests on CBS' Face The Nation today was Senator-elect Borg Corker. I was just wondering if anyone from the reality based community caught the show and had an assessment of how embarassed we need to be?

CAFKIA