Beth Dodges a Bullet (Named Irwin)
The candidate filing deadline came and went a few hours ago for this year’s state elections, and one petition that didn’t get turned in was Irwin Kuhn’s. The Nashville attorney and Democrat took a “hard look” at challenging District 56 incumbent Beth Harwell, a 10-term House Republican who hasn’t faced a serious opponent in years. Kuhn, who is well-connected politically—he is close to Mayor Karl Dean and hosted last weekend’s fundraiser for Bob Tuke’s Senate campaign—probably could have raised enough money to make a serious run at the seat. He was circulating a nominating petition for signatures as recently as yesterday, but made a late decision to skip the race.
Clearly if ever there was a year for Democrats to take a stab at challenging entrenched GOP incumbents, this is the time. And Harwell’s district is hardly a Republican slam dunk, having delivered a healthy majority for Phil Bredesen in 2002 and coming close (in the high 40s) for John Kerry in 2004. “I feel like she would be vulnerable,” Kuhn tells Pith, “but just decided it wasn’t right for me at this time.”
Comments
What was in the water in 2002 when she drew 3 challengers (one of whom was me)? If I still lived in the district, I'd gladly go up against her again.
Posted 04/03/2008 at 08:21:04 PM