TN Democratic Governor’s Health Care Axe May Hand State to Republicans In 2006

Cathy Davis of Huntingdon says Governor Bredesen “has no feelings for the elderly, the disabled and the low-income people.'' Ms. Davis is paralyzed below the waist and confined to a wheelchair.

By all indications, she’s one of thousands who fear for their lives because of Governor Bredesen’s health care cuts.

With Bredesen set to take health care insurance away from as many as 323,000 elderly, sick, disabled and poor people and severely limit the coverage of hundreds of thousands more, Republicans think they have a good shot at taking the state away from the Democrat.

According to a story in the Knoxville News Sentinel, Bredesen won his first term by a mere 40,417 votes. It seems a safe bet that Bredesen will easily lose at least that many votes next year. In fact, there may be a few hundred thousand who will not be voting for him in 2006 solely on the basis of his failure to come up with an acceptable health care policy.

The anger and outrage that so many feel toward Bredesen may well cost the Democrats the state in 2006.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

Since 1982, every incumbent governor has won re-election to a second four-year term in Tennessee.

But [State Republican Chairman] Davis says 2006 could be different.

"There's no question I think Bredesen is vulnerable," said Davis. "A lot of people think he's a nice fellow, and that may be so. But facts don't lie, and the facts are that he's not managing our state government the way a lot of people thought he would."

"We've got failing schools, unemployment rising, and he's a health-care expert who three years ago told us he could solve TennCare and who hasn't," said Davis.

On TennCare, [State Democratic Chairman Bob] Tuke said, "Republicans are full of hypocrisy" because "they have no plan of their own" and are "just slinging mud" after Bredesen made the "difficult, tragic decision" to cut TennCare roles (sic).

"The truth of the matter is that the governor is fixing TennCare. He inherited a bankrupt TennCare system that the Republican administration preceding him had run into the mud," Tuke said.

"The Republican solution was to raise taxes. The Bredesen solution was to cut the fat, and he proposed no new taxes," he said.

Bredesen won his first term in 2002 with 827,280 votes over Republican Van Hilleary, a former U.S. representative, who had 786,863.