Bearish On Bart's Stock
Posted: 2009-10-28 by Lou Ann News
CQ Downgrades Gordon's Reelection Chances
MURFREESBORO, TN - Businesswoman Lou Ann Zelenik has only been in the race for Congress for a few days and already the political handicappers in Washington have taken notice.
Respected publication Congressional Quarterly, which maintains a campaign ratings forecast for every member of Congress in the country, today downgraded Bart Gordon's stock for the first time this decade.
CQ noted Republican enthusiasm for Lou Ann's candidacy and Bart's lockstep voting with Nancy Pelosi as the reasons for its downgrade.
In the last year alone, Gordon has abandoned his promises to Tennessee to vote as a centrist and instead has voted for President Obama's trillion-dollar stimulus, Nancy Pelosi's bloated budget, a Cap-and-Trade national energy tax, and he cast a decisive vote for the Obama-Pelosi health care bill when he had the chance to help kill it in committee.
Excerpts of the CQ article are below. Full text is available at cq.com.
"Republicans have long argued they could compete on this turf if they could drum up strong candidates. And they think they finally have solid contenders in Stephen Fincher, a farmer and gospel singer who has signed on to tackle Tanner in the 8th District, and Lou Ann Zelenik, chairwoman of the Rutherford County Republican Party, who is challenging Gordon in the 6th District."
"And Gordon, since the Democrats claimed a House majority in the 2006 elections, has been voting more of a party line than was typical in the past. A Congressional Quarterly study showed he voted with most House Democrats against most Republicans on mainly party-line votes 90 percent of the time in the 110th Congress (2007-08), a jump from 74 percent during the Republican-controlled 109th Congress (2005-06). He hit a 95 percent party unity score during the first half year of the current 111th Congress."
Lou Ann Zelenik is an accomplished businesswoman, Rutherford County civic leader and the co-founder of L&N Construction.
