Obama Weighs in on Tennessee House Race

[WhiteTara]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/07/obama_weighs_in_on_tennessee_h.html
washingtonpost.com
By Jonathan Weisman
With voters in Memphis going to the polls today in a primary contest, Sen. Barack Obama weighed in this afternoon on the nasty campaign that House candidate Nikki Tinker has waged to unseat Rep. Stephen I. Cohen as the Democratic nominee for Tennessee's ninth district.

Obama did not mention by name either Tinker or Cohen, but his intentions were clear. He is taking the African American Tinker to task for her campaign against a liberal, Jewish ally in Congress, Cohen.

"These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It's time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country," Obama said in a statement.

The intervention came after Tinker unveiled an ad yesterday -- since shelved -- that appeared to attack Cohen as a Jewish outsider in the largely African-American district.
"While he's in our churches, clapping his hands and tapping his feet ... he's the only senator who thought our kids shouldn't be allowed to pray in school," an outraged female voice declares, referring to a vote against school prayer Cohen made as a state senator. The emphasis was clearly on "our," separating the white, Jewish Cohen from his African American, largely Christian constituents.

short article...just a bit more

[Alter Ego]

1. That's out of line and I'm glad he said something.

[Zynx]

2. If Tinker somehow won I would support her ouster two years from now.

She is deplorable.

[cbc5g]

3. Good for Obama!

[Rob H.]

4. Voted for Cohen an hour ago

Tinker's tactics and ads have been repugnant--they come off as racist and anti-Semitic. (She even made Olbermann's 'Worst Person in the World' yesterday.)

[DFLforever]

5. What a Slime ball.

Will something like this backfire in that community or will it help her?

Isn't this Ford's old district... and isn't he supposedly backing Tinker?

[PM7nj]

6. Tinker is just an all around horrible person...

[Rob H.]

7. Update: Tinker's Rovian tactics backfired in a BIG way

Despite her campaign's best attempts to slime Cohen, he walked away with 79 percent of the vote. :woohoo: