Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

Comment
on this story

But Ingram Could...

The Ingram Group, the octopus of a P.R. and lobbying firm with offices in Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and probably soon in Mountain City, Washington, D.C., Burbank, Calif. and Copenhagen, Denmark, has its holiday party in Nashville set for Dec. 11. The invitation is a slick spoof of a movie poster, "A Public Affair to Remember," described as "The epic holiday event where worlds collide, fences are mended, deals are done and relationships come to life." It depicts a Democrat donkey dancing cheek to trunk with a GOP elephant. The firm, which has been scrambling to find a lobbyist with good Gov.-elect Phil Bredesen connections, posted a mock quote from Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe on the outside of the invitation's big envelope. "TDOT couldn't keep me away," it says.

Jennifer Sylvest of the group's Nashville office, says Victor conveyed his regrets that he won't actually be able to attend, but stood by the made-up quote anyway.

Van's Revenge?

"The Senate," in the immortal words of Lt. Gov. John Wilder, "is the Senate." By that, Wilder has always meant (at least we think) that the 33 state senators are free to speak their minds and vote their minds. Largely because of this philosophy, the Democratic and Republican Party caucuses have historically had little unity; entire sessions have come and gone when not a single vote taken in the Senate was defined by party.

That philosophy may be about to change. The election last week of Ron Ramsey of Blountville to be Republican Party caucus chairman can be viewed in three lights. It was a victory for the right wing of the party, which, in the Senate, is generally dominated by people who have been recently elected. Ramsey picked up all four of the new Senate Republicans in winning the chairmanship 10-5 over Bill Clabough of Maryville, generally regarded as a more moderate Republican. The vote also may be interpreted as an attempt by the party to have a more unified stance next year against Gov.-elect Phil Bredesen.

Finally, Ramsey's victory is a small victory for the people in the Republican Party loyal to Van Hilleary. During the recent gubernatorial race, Clabough made no secret of the fact that he preferred Jim Henry over Hilleary. Meanwhile, Ramsey and Hilleary are close friends; Hilleary even stayed at Ramsey's house during the campaign.

Political Merry-Go-Round

Nobody at soon-to-be Sen. Lamar Alexander's headquarters in Nashville looked happier this past election night than soon-to-be former Sen. Fred Thompson, whom observers say had a big old "Thank God I am outta here" grin on his face the whole time. And as soon as the Lamar thank-you speech was over, one source says "He did not mingle with the GOP masses and was out of there faster than you could say prime-time drama series." Thompson was accompanied by his very new, much younger wife, Jeri Kehn, who was described as "Your typical size four blonde with the tiny nose. Definitely model material." The rumor of the night was that he was going to use his Law and Order TV gig to get his name out there and run for president. Some found it ironic that on his way out as U.S. senator, the Democrat he vanquished to get there—Jim Cooper—was on his way back into office, taking the House seat of Bob Clement, the Democrat Lamar had just whipped.