Sen. Bob CorkerU.S. Sen. Bob Corker said tonight's win has energized him to deal with the country's fiscal issues and foreign troubles.
Corker, who eked out a narrow 51-48 percent victory over then-Congressman Harold Ford to win his seat in 2006, easily coasted to re-election this year.
"It's a little different than six years ago," Corker told the Times Free Press tonight from his election night victory party in Nashville. "I'm probably more energized and more optimistic about dealing with our nation's big issues."
With the election behind him, Corker said he plans to go to work Wednesday morning to propose solutions to the fiscal stalemate in Congress.
Corker defeated Democrat Mark Clayton by better than a 2-to-1 margin.
Clayton, 36, was the top vote-getter in the August Democratic primary from among seven little-known candidates. Clayton is vice president of Public Advocate of the United States, which opposes and lobbies against gay rights and was labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Clayton didn't have a campaign staff, office or even enough funds to have to file with the Federal Election Commission, and he was denounced by his own party.
The Washington Post said Clayton had the least chance of any major party nominee in the country of winning Tuesday's election.
In comparison, the Corker campaign collected nearly $10 million for his re-election campaign and still had nearly $6.3 million in cash on hand in the last campaign report filed in October.
"In my first term (in the U.S. Senate) I've traveled to 48 countries, but I think I've stayed grounded in Tennessee values," Corker said.
See tomorrow's Times Free Press for more.