film / tv / politics / social media / lists celeb / pajiba love / misc / about / cbr
film / tv / politics / web / celeb

romney-corker.jpg

Retiring Bob Corker Offers Awkwardly Tepid Endorsement of His Successor GOP Candidate, and Mitt Romney Stumbles

By Dustin Rowles | | April 22, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | | April 22, 2018 |


romney-corker.jpg

While many are expecting a blue wave to sweep Democrats into control of the House of Representatives this fall, the Senate is another matter entirely. Democrats have to defend 26 seats — several in red states — while Republicans need only defend 9. Every race, therefore, is important, because the Democrats need one to tie and two to take over the Senate. Democrats see their best bets as Arizona and Nevada, where the races are toss-ups, but lately, they’ve been seeing possibilities in other states, too, like Texas, where Beto O’Rourke is closing in on Ted Cruz, narrowing the margin to three points, according to the latest poll.

Meanwhile, things are looking up in Tennesee, too, where popular former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen currently holds a 10 point lead over Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running as the Republican. Donald Trump has vowed to campaign for Blackburn, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Meanwhile, Bob Corker got in hot water with majority leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week by calling Bredesen his “friend” and not explicitly endorsing the Republican, Blackburn.

That was a topic of conversation this morning on CNN, where Dana Bash asked Corker if he supported Blackburn. He said he did, but 1) he called Bredesen his “friend” again; 2) he won’t campaign against Bredesen; 3) he can barely bring himself to say Blackburn’s name, 4) the only reason he gives for voting for Blackburn over Bredesen is because she’s a Republican; and 5) “I’m, uh, supporting the nominee, and I don’t know what else to say.”

That’ll look great on Blackburn bumper stickers: “Vote for Blackburn! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

Meanwhile, in Utah, Democrats don’t have a shot in hell of winning but Mitt Romney isn’t coasting to victory, either. I guess they have a convention ahead of the primary in Utah, and if a candidate gets 60 percent of the convention vote, they can bypass the primary.

Romney not only did not gain 60 percent, he lost to Utah state representative Mike Kennedy 51 to 49 percent, meaning that he will have to win a primary. Kennedy, by the way, is the more Trump-like Republican. Romney — who remains very popular in Utah — is nevertheless expected to win the nomination and, ultimately, the Senate seat, vacated by retiring Senator Orrin Hatch. Still, it’s a very Veep-like humiliation for Romney, who is no stranger to these small humiliations.