Nashville News Blog

State Rep. Brian Kelsey is defiantly refusing to accept any blame for what happened to Republicans in the House last week. Did we expect self-doubt from this wingnut? Kelsey was the only House GOPer to travel into Williams' district to campaign against him in his primary last year. Kelsey only had to go 500 miles from his Germantown district to do it.

As Rick Locker explains in this story, Kelsey's presence made an impression on Williams, a House freshman at the time. "He held up my opponent's signs, standing right beside me (at the early-voting precinct in Elizabethton), which I thought was very disrespectful," Williams says.

But Kelsey insists Williams deserved it, even if it did help drive him to betray Jason Mumpower last week, because "he's been dishonest with the people of his district about governing as a Republican." More Kelsey: "I was the only member of our Republican Caucus who actively campaigned against Williams in his own district and I feel 100 percent justified in doing so now. ... The only regret I have in campaigning against him was that we didn't beat him."