U.S. Sen. John McCain’s name at the top of Tennessee ballots might tip the balance in the state Senate toward the GOP, said Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville.

“This is the most important election in our lifetime,” Lt. Gov. Ramsey said Monday to the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club, a Republican group.

Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., led U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the presidential race in Tennessee by 16 points in a Chattanooga Times Free Press poll conducted in late September. But Wade Munday, spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said the presidential race won’t have an effect on other races.

“To think that there’s a presidential coattail effect in Tennessee is grasping at straws,” he said.

Neither party now has control in the Tennessee Senate, which consists of 16 Democrats, 16 Republicans and one independent.

But Lt. Gov. Ramsey said that could change this year, especially in the districts where Sen. John Wilder, D-Mason, is retiring and where Sen. Micheal Williams, I-Maynardville, serves.

The lieutenant governor said it would be important for Republicans to take control of the Senate because the GOP would be in control of redistricting after the 2010 census.

“We’ll be just as fair to the Democrats as they’ve been to us,” he said.

Mr. Munday said he believed Tennesseans would support Democratic candidates, noting that Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen moved to contribute to the state’s rainy day fund during this year’s state budget crunch.

Comments