Hillary vs Hussein?

Gov. Bredesen, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, is concerned about the prospects of Hillary and Barack in Tennessee come November:

"Four guys in a booth said, 'Phil, sit down, we voted for you,' and so I did," said the two-term governor, a moderate Democrat in a right-leaning state. "And one of them turns to me and says, 'We're all Democrats, who are you going to vote for? Hillary or Hussein?' "

Bredesen said the reference to Sen. Barack Obama's middle name adds to the hurdles Democrats will face in November. Tennessee might not be as electorally important as Florida or Ohio, but it is something of a bellwether state, having voted with the winning candidate in every presidential election but one since 1928.

Now, I don't think Obama can or will win the Southeast...nor do I really think Hillary could win absent some third party candidate to siphon off votes like Ross Perot did in '92. But this notion of Tennessee being a "bellweather" is kind of misleading. So, out of 19 contests, Tennessee has been with the winner 18 times according to Bredesen. The problem of course is that in many of these elections, '32, '36, '40, '44, '52, '56, '64, '72, '80, '84, '88; there were electoral blow outs for the winning candidate.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter was narrowly beaten by Ronald Reagan thanks to the third party candidacy of John Anderson (Reagan 48.7%, Carter 48.4%, Anderson 2.2%). In 1960 Tennessee voted for Richard Nixon. In 1968, Nixon won with 38% of the vote, and a close second was George Wallace with 34%, and Humphrey a distant third. In 1952, Eisenhower won by less than 3,000 votes. In other words, just by happenstance has Tennessee picked the "winner" in so many elections post-1928.

Also in the article, Gov. Bredesen conveys the fears of one TN Superdelegate, "One of the superdelegates said to me, 'I'm in a swing district and both of them are poison to me.' " Who do you think this was, Lincoln Davis or Bart Gordon? I'm guessing Davis....but that does bring up an interesting scenario. If the nomination goes to the bitter end in Denver, will some of the Southern super-delegates who haven't announced nominate a fellow White Southern Male so as not to have to be aligned with Hillary or Barack?