Clark to help Tuke raise cash for race
Originally published by the Knoxville News
Clark to help Tuke raise cash for race
Dem Senate candidate hopes to narrow Alexander's $3M lead
By Tom Humphrey
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Later: A report on the day
NASHVILLE - Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Bob Tuke will have help from retired Army General Wesley Clark and other nationally known party members in trying to narrow Sen. Lamar Alexander's $3 million advantage in campaign cash.
Tuke's campaign manager, Ben Chao, said Monday that Clark, a former presidential candidate who carried Tennessee in the 2004 campaign before losing nationally to John Kerry, will host a fundraising reception in Nashville on Thursday.
He said a "huge national Democrat," who he declined to name, will host an event next week.
The most recent campaign finance disclosures, covering the period through July 18, show that Republican Alexander had almost $3.2 million cash on hand while Tuke had $119,690.
Tuke won the Democratic nomination in a field of six candidates last Thursday. Alexander was unopposed for the GOP nomination.
The latest campaign disclosure for Tuke reported total spending of $320,990, considerably more than any of his Democratic competitors but far less than the $1.7 million in spending reported so far by the Alexander campaign.
Tuke got 58,990 votes, or 32.2 percent, in the Democratic primary. Runner-up was Gary G. Davis, who spent nothing and got 39,122 votes, or 21.3 percent.
Former Knox County Clerk Mike Padgett reported expenditures totaling $121,400 and finished third with 33,453 votes, or 18.3 percent. Mark Clayton, whose name appeared first on the ballot, reported no spending to the Federal Election Commission and had 17.6 percent of the vote.
A total 182,724 votes were cast in the Democratic primary. Alexander received 243,056 votes running against no one in the Republican primary.
While acknowledging the primary results are not cause for confetti and balloons, Chao said the campaign was successful by targeting key areas where limited money could be spent most effectively.
The primary campaign focused on the Memphis and Nashville areas, including radio and TV advertising that ran nowhere else in the state. Tuke won in those areas, which typically have a high Democratic primary turnout.
"We only spent money where we knew we would get the maximum return on investment," he said.
Strategy for the fall campaign, Chao said, involves five targeted areas, an odd patchwork of coalitions and coordination with other Democratic campaigns.
"It's going to be a very different general election than any we've ever seen," he said.
While declining to elaborate in detail, he said coalitions would include urban voters, who may be inspired to higher-than-normal turnout by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and veterans, who may be inspired by Tuke's record of service as a Marine and Alexander's "terrible record on veterans issues."
