The "Risky" Choice

Adopting a campaign tactic being used by the Republicans against Barack Obama, Rosalind Kurita's campaign has taken to calling her Democratic opposition, Tim Barnes, a "risky choice" for Senate district 22.

In an ad that ran on Meet the Press this morning, Sen. Kurita ran a negative ad which claimed Barnes was "risky" because as a lawyer he represented clients for DUI offenses while she worked in the Senate to increase punishments for drinking and driving. The ad also made the claim that Barnes failed to (or improperly filed) taxes on 4 separate occasions.

Whether Kurita is feeling the heat from a Barnes challenge which could potentially be the only example of an incumbent being primaried this year or not is unclear, but it is just the latest example of a campaign that has divided state democrats over whether Kurita, who voted to install Ron Ramsey as Speaker of the Senate, should remain as the Democratic nominee.

At a Democratic breakfast Saturday morning, Kurita's colleague, State Sen. Thelma Harper, had strong words for the Senator from the 22nd district, using the term "turncoat" and urging Nashville Democrats to go by the bus load up to Clarksville because if Gov. Bredesen were to leave office in the next two years for any reason, the whole state would feel the same pain that the Senate has felt under Lt. Governor Ramsey's leadership.