Every once in a while, you hear a statement from a lawmaker that leaves you shaking your head and muttering, “Come on, man.”
Last night, upon hearing about the retirement of Tennessee Democratic congressman John Tanner, I wrote – perhaps a bit overdramatically – “John Tanner took a long look at the gospel-singing farmer [likely GOP rival Stephen Fincher], and chose to retire.”
Today, Tanner says his decision had nothing to do with his Fincher:
Republican tough talk almost made him change his mind and run for re-election. “My competitive juices got flowing,” he said. “They almost got me to run, but you don’t run for office just to beat someone. When you run, you should run to serve.”
Look, going up against a longtime incumbent, Fincher’s chances against Tanner were probably in the neighborhood of 50/50 at best. But I really have a hard time believing that an unknown challenger outraising Tanner 5-to-1 in the last quarter had no impact on his decision to not seek another term.