Kurita vs. Barnes: A Serious Contest?
by Jackson Baker
- kurita by jb
- Rosalind Kurita; opponent Tim Barnes
Is state Senator Rosalind Kurita in trouble this election season or not?
Opinions differ in Nashville, where Clarksville Democrat Kurita holds the office
of Senate Speaker Pro Tem under Republican Speaker and Lt. Governor Ron
Ramsey of Blountville.
Ramsey got his position (and consequently Kurita got hers) in January 2007 when
Kurita cast the surprise vote across party lines that deposed longtime Speaker
John Wilder, a Somerville Democrat. That action resulted in Kurita's
virtual ostracism from her fellow Democrats, notably from Jim Kyle of
Memphis, the Senate Democratic leader whom many credit as the sponsor of
Clarksville lawyer Tim Barnes' challenge to Kurita in this year's
Democratic primary.
Not so, says Kyle, and even Kurita can't say so for sure. But she has to take
seriously Barnes, a near winner against GOP state representative Curtis
Johnson in 2006, No less an authority than gubernatorial candidate Kim
McMillan, the former House majority leader who as a fellow resident of
Clarksville knows them both (and who actively supported Barnes two years ago),
compares the Kurita-Barnes race to another ongoing contest.
"It's very much like the situation between Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama. We've got two good candidates, whoever wins," McMillan opined.
As a likely sign of official GOP regard for Kurita, no Republican filed in
Senate District 22, which was handily carried by George W. Bush in the
last two presidential elections.
Kurita was a Democratic primary candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2006 before
withdrawing.
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