Why Phil Bredesen is right choice for Senate in Tennessee | Opinion
The marquee race on Tennessee ballots this year is the one between Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen to replace Bob Corker in the U.S. Senate.
An open Senate seat is always going to produce an important contest, but this one is happening against the backdrop of a closely and bitterly divided Senate. So the race is drawing much attention.
More:President Trump: Democrat control would be bad for nation, elect Blackburn
Blackburn has made the national context the bulwark of her campaign. During the pair’s recent debate at the University of Tennessee’s Baker Center, she noted Bredesen’s donation to Hillary Clinton’s campaign about two dozen times -- pretty much every time she was asked a question, regardless of what the question was.
Such a donation is not a startling revelation. Just about every prominent Democrat gives to Democratic presidential candidates, just as Republicans give to GOP campaigns.
But Blackburn’s purpose was to put as much focus as possible on the national divide and remind voters of where she stood.
Invoking Sen. Howard Baker Jr.
In contrast, Bredesen opened the same debate by appealing to the spirit of the man to whom the venue was dedicated: the late Sen. Howard Baker Jr., a Republican remembered for his civil bipartisanship.
Indeed, Bredesen has maintained civility throughout the heated race and has run largely on his record, which, ironically, is marked by conservative action at least as impactful as anything Blackburn can point to.
An eight-term member of Congress, Blackburn was among the Republicans who voted over and over to repeal the Affordable Care Act when Barack Obama was president and the votes were merely symbolic. Yet when they controlled Congress and the White House, those same Republicans failed to repeal "Obamacare."
Bredesen, on the other hand, shrunk Tennessee’s Medicaid program dramatically when its costs got out of hand, correcting a problem inherited from a previous Republican administration by painfully dropping more than a quarter million people from TennCare. He also started his tenure as governor by cutting most state departments by 9 percent.
Can 'fix what's broken'
Throughout his career, the Democrat has largely defied partisan categorization and, instead, has relied on his ability to “fix what’s broken” His success is evident in his record as governor, Nashville mayor and job-creating entrepreneur.
Washington, unarguably, is broken. The budget deficit is on track to top $1 trillion a year, even with ostensible conservatives in charge, and vital matters of national policy, such as immigration, infrastructure and health care, are deadlocked by partisan posturing.
More:Across the aisle: Corker, Bredesen and the ties that bind
Blackburn’s major case for election is to declare simply that she will stick to one side of the divide, voting to keep the Senate leadership in GOP hands and loyally supporting President Donald Trump. To drive that point home, it was the name of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that she recited repeatedly during her first debate with Bredesen.
In truth, it’s unlikely the Democrats will gain control of the Senate this year, even if Bredesen wins. Too many Democratic seats and too few Republican seats are up for election for that to happen.
In 2020, however, the arithmetic shifts, and the GOP will have to defend about twice as many Senate seats as the Democrats. After that election, having a thoughtful, conservative Democrat in the majority may be far more valuable to Tennessee than having a Trump die-hard in the minority.
The fact is, if America weren’t so split, Bredesen would be a nearly incontestable pick, having earned a seat in the upper chamber through years of creative service, honest leadership and notable achievement.
In this era of dissension, though, Phil Bredesen's fair-mindedness, independence and civility are even more valuable, and they make him the right choice to don Tennessee’s historic mantle of statesmanship in the U.S. Senate.