One could say that the real joke is on his constituents. But I'm not finding it particularly funny.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Now there's a shocking headline:

"Campfield Reads Knoxville Voice"

Come to think of it, "Campfield Reads," might cause most people to do a double take.

"loss of human life caused by illegal aliens.."

huh?

>I was driving down Broadway the other day near Fifth, and a >big orange lift truck heading north was being driven by >Stacey Campfield.

Hmmm...he owns several ratty rental houses on the ragged edges of Old North Knoxville.

If Campfield can actually get fetus wrestling, I'll vote his ass president in a heartbeat. I'm going to email him and see if we can work on abortion races where we get the fastest doctors to compete.

I don't get how he wins. What is his district like? I know it includes a part of Cedar Springs and then shoots northeast. Is it poor? Middle-class? Mixed? Is it really that conservative of a district, compared to the rest of Knoxville? I mean, he's a real idiot and an embarrassment to Tennessee.

I don't get how he wins.

Name recognition, lazy voters.

I hear he's really, really good at retail politics. Goes door to door, talks pretty to the little old ladies, etc.

An understatement. Stacy visits the home of every likely voter in his district 2 or 3 times during a campaign. He's done it so much they all know him personally. He asks for their vote over and over again, in person. So far Campfield kicks whoever's butt that chooses to run against him. And, he can do it with half the money or less.

Good related opinion column by Krugman in the NYT's:

(link...)

I'm no fan of Campfield, but honestly, his last opponent in the general ran a laughable campaign. Rather than focusing on Campfields colorful and often racist diatribes, the focus was on whether or not Campfield allowed a sex offender to reside in one of his slums.

If Campfield is successful because he goes door to door, then an opponent needs to do the same. Campfield is a bigot and needs to be exposed as such. But an opponent needs to go into the neighborhoods and deliver an alternative message to the people of the 18th district. Door-to-door campaigning goes a LONG way. Gary Trauner almost won the Wyoming Congressional seat by going door-to-door across the whole state! It ain't easy for a Democrat to be competitive in Wyoming, but Trauner's retail politics made it possible. It's often harder to demonize a man who you see with your own eyes.