With all this feuding between Republicans about who the best candidate is between Ed Bryant, Van Hilleary, and Bob Corker, one fact always seems to get lost in the fray: all have ran statewide campaigns before and lost!Yes, that is correct. Each GOP U.S. Senate candidate has ran a statewide campaign before at one point in time and has gotten rejected by the voters of Tennessee.
Here are the results:
Ed Bryant's Failed 2002 U.S. Senate Bid
Alexander 295,062 54%
Bryant 233,678 43%
Other 3%
Van Hilleary's Failed 2002 Gubernatorial Bid
Bredesen 837,284 51%
Hilleary 786,803 48%
Bob Corker's Failed 1994 U.S. Senate Bid
Frist 197,734 44%
Corker 143,808 32%
Wilson 50,274 11%
Sterling 28,425 6%
Others 25,410 6%
This recycling of failed candidates just further re-emphasizes the dire state of the Republican Party here in Tennessee. You know it is bad when they can't even find a person to run for the U.S. Senate who hasn't lost a statewide race before!
Keep hashing it out guys! But just remember, all of you have something in common: each of you were rejected by the voters of Tennessee at one time. Hopefully you can all take solace in that.
