Nashville News Blog

The talking points are probably landing in the email boxes of Democrats across the state even as I type this. When reporters ask how, in a historically gigantic Democratic year, Republicans could take the legislature for the first time since the days of Yankee carpetbaggers, here's what you say: "It's not our fault. Obama got his ass kicked in Tennessee. There was nothing we could have done to prevent this terrible debacle."

State party chair Gray Sasser is certainly following the script. Asked this morning what went wrong, Sasser replied: "These are back of the envelope calculations, but if you back out Shelby and Davidson [counties], it looks like Obama got about 35 percent of the vote in the state of Tennessee. In a lot of our rural areas, we ran into a very strong headwind at the top of the ticket, and a lot of our legislative candidates who ran some really strong races lost by only hundreds of votes."

More from the Pith interview:

Q: So it was Obama’s fault?

Sasser: It was not Obama’s fault. It was a difficult campaign for us when the top of the ticket is not doing well in rural areas. But let me say this, Barack Obama I think is right now at his low point in Tennessee. A lot of Tennesseans don’t know Barack Obama because of the way the campaign was focused on other states. But Senator Obama has inspired a lot of people in this state and the lasting legacy of this campaign could very well be the new people he’s motivated to come out and support Democrats. These folks are committed. Tennesseans are going to become increasingly proud of Barack Obama.

Q: Boy, that’s finding the silver lining. What would you do differently? Obviously these Obama margins killed you but it wasn’t as if you couldn’t have seen that coming.

Sasser: What would I have done differently? Our coordinated campaign, we feel like, was a very strong campaign. We were well-financed. We had the support of both the House and Senate caucus, support from the governor’s office, support from all of our congressional delegation. We had a great field staff. We were competitive in television time, although I do think we got outspent. If you look at the returns on the down-ballot ballots, you’ll see the margins a lot narrower down there than at the top of the ticket. Which shows me we were effective in moving some votes out there.

Q: But what would you have done differently? Should you have found somebody better to run against Alexander?

Sasser: Bob Tuke ran a very courageous race. He got out there and took on Lamar Alexander when a lot of people thought Lamar was invincible. … It’s easy so sit on the sidelines and throw stones or be an anonymous blogger out there and take potshots at people in the political game, but you have to admire a guy like Bob Tuke who will get out there and address issues and take on an uphill fight. You don’t win all your fights, but it shows me a lot of courage for somebody who will do it.

Q: But you’re not telling me anything here, Gray. Is this Mississippi now?

Sasser: No, it’s not Mississippi at all.

Q: Well, there must have been something you could have done. It was a big Democratic year but you got your clock cleaned. So what did you do wrong?

Sasser: We maintained a majority of the U.S. house. It’s still in Democratic hands.

Q: Not for long.

Sasser: We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to sit back and think about where we did make mistakes and determine what those mistakes are. One of the things we have to do is build on the foundation that Obama helped us lay here. We need to identify these new people and make sure we get them plugged into taking back the state House and taking back the state Senate.

Q: Do you think you have a message problem? Forever, Democrats in this state have run as Republicans. Do you have to figure out how to articulate a Democratic message that works here?

Sasser: I’m proud of the Democrats’ record in the state legislature. I’m proud of the way the governor has been managing us through this fiscal crisis. I think that will have to continue to be our message, that we’ve shown the ability to govern and now the Republicans have to demonstrate that same ability. We’ll see if they are up to the task.

Q: What’s going to happen with the Republicans in charge of the legislature?

Sasser: I’m worried that they will try to advance a hard-right agenda. I would think it would be a mistake for the Republicans to move far to the right very quickly. You would hope that they would try to work with this governor, who has done a great job of managing our fiscal situation.

Q: What would a hard-right agenda mean exactly?

Sasser: Are they going to model their governance after people like Rep. Stacey Campfield or more like Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker?

Q: So if you’re gay, you should leave the state?

Sasser: I didn’t say that.

Q: You don’t want to sling any shit at the Republicans?

Sasser: Not yet.