Bredesen wins Democratic nomination for governor
NASHVILLE — Former Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen won a second chance at the governor’s mansion Thursday with a sweep in the Democratic primary against Randy Nichols and Charles Smith.
With 89 percent of precincts reporting, Bredesen had 386,808 votes or 79 percent, compared to 33,347 votes for Nichols and 30,061 for Smith, for a combined 13 percent.
Bredesen, who won his party’s nomination in 1994 but lost in the general election to Republican Don Sundquist, will face U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary in November. Hilleary beat former state GOP chairman Jim Henry in a hard fought battle for the Republican nomination.
‘This is a time of great opportunity,’ Bredesen told more than 200 supporters gathered in a Nashville hotel ballroom. ‘I want to stop the negative; I want to tap into that vein of optimism and caring and hard work. I learned as mayor that in government you don’t get much done by yourself.
‘If we seize the moment right now, the years ahead will be very bright ones for Tennessee.’
Bredesen echoed his message on the campaign trail that Tennessee needs better management to repair its finances, fix TennCare and begin ‘living once again within our income.’
‘These are complicated challenges for a governor,’ he said. ‘Washington politics can’t do it. Gimmicks can’t do it. It’s going to take background and experience and a track record.
‘I know my resume is a little different, but if you’re ready for a businessman who has actually met a payroll, I’d like to hire on.’
Nashville retiree Olene Olive came to the party with her sister and daughter to again show her support for Bredesen. She voted for him when he ran for governor in 1994 and supported his two successful bids for mayor in the 1990s.
‘He was our mayor — a wonderful mayor,’ Olive said. ‘He brought us the Titans, a brand new library and the economy was in good shape then. He’ll be able to do the same as governor.’
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Even before the primary votes were in, Bredesen was already looking toward November. On July 22, he sent letters to Hilleary and Henry proposing nine debates between himself and the Republican nominee.
‘It does not seem too soon to start some provisional planning for the weeks of the general election campaign,’ he said.
He also planned his first campaign visit as the Democratic nominee to Kingston, Henry’s hometown, on Friday.
Bredesen said the difference between his campaign now and the one eight years ago was that he has spent less time worrying about television ads and more time getting to know people.
He had trouble connecting with voters in 1994. Some Tennesseans considered him arrogant because he spent $6.5 million of his own money. Others saw him as an outsider, even though the New York state native has lived in Tennessee nearly 30 years.
This time, Bredesen, who made his wealth in the health care industry, hasn’t invested his own money. He said he learned that collecting $20 from a voter forges a connection that providing a $1,000 service doesn’t.
Bredesen so far has raised more than $5 million, and had $1.6 million on hand as he entered the final days of the primary.
Smith and Nichols combined raised a fraction of that. Campaign finance reports submitted to the state a week before the primary showed Nichols, the Knox County District Attorney, raised $146,000 during the past six months and Smith, former state education commissioner, $182,500.
As Nashville mayor from 1991-1999, Bredesen brokered the deal that turned the NFL’s Houston Oilers into the Tennessee Titans and built an arena that attracted an NHL expansion team.
He also brought Dell Computer Corp. to the city and convinced HCA Inc. to keep its headquarters in Nashville. He helped secure construction for a new library and 32 new schools.
The three property tax increases and millions of dollars in corporate tax breaks it took to do all that is what most Bredesen critics attack. His GOP opponent will likely do the same in the months leading to the general election.
The new governor will inherit a General Assembly coming off a four-year battle over a state income tax. To end the tax stalemate and a three-day partial government shutdown, lawmakers in July passed the highest sales tax rate in the country — nearly 10 cents on the dollar.
Bredesen, who does not support an income tax, believes the sales tax increase is a temporary fix.
Bredesen, 58, touts better management as the solution to the state’s financial problems, drawing upon his experience as a businessman who built a health care management company from nothing into the nation’s second largest before he sold it 1986 for $47 million.
Born in New Jersey, Bredesen grew up in Shortsville, N.Y. His first foray into politics was an unsuccessful run for the Massachusetts Senate shortly after college.
He moved to Nashville a year after his 1974 marriage to Andrea Conte. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor and congress in 1987.
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On the Net:
Phil Bredesen: www.bredesen.com
Randy Nichols: www.nicholsforgovernor.com
Charles Smith: www.charles2002.org