With Corker a no go on Senate, Bredesen says contrast with Blackburn 'now clear'

In this Dec. 13, 2010, photo, Gov. Phil Bredesen talks about his eight years in office during an interview, in Nashville, Tenn. Bredesen, the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Tennessee, is considering a bid to succeed retiring Republican Bob Corker in the U.S. Senate. Bredesen said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 that he is mulling an entry into the race after several people urged him to reconsider his initial statements that he had no interest in running. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
In this Dec. 13, 2010, photo, Gov. Phil Bredesen talks about his eight years in office during an interview, in Nashville, Tenn. Bredesen, the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Tennessee, is considering a bid to succeed retiring Republican Bob Corker in the U.S. Senate. Bredesen said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 that he is mulling an entry into the race after several people urged him to reconsider his initial statements that he had no interest in running. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE - Democrat Phil Bredesen's campaign is welcoming Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker's decision not to re-enter the 2018 Senate contest, saying the former Tennessee governor's contrast with Republican Marsha Blackburn is "now clear."

"Tennessee voters can pick someone who caused gridlock in Washington over the past 15 years - or they can hire someone who has a proven track record of working across the aisle to get things done for all Tennesseans," said Bredesen Press Secretary Alyssa Hansen in a statement today.

Hansen said Bredesen is "glad to see the race taking shape and he remains focused on running a 95-county campaign to win in November."

Earlier today, Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, publicly ruled out reversing his decision last September not to seek a third Senate term. Some Corker allies wanted him to get into the contest, putting out a poll that said Bredesen led Blackburn in the general election by two percentage points.

Blackburn allies, meanwhile, put forth their own polls, several of them showing the Brentwood congressman and conservative firebrand led Corker among GOP primary voters by double digits.

Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced his decision not to seek reelection last September. The Tennessean had been briefly considered by Trump in 2016 as his running mate - Corker took himself out of contention - and following Trump's election the senator was also under consideration for secretary of state.

But the senator and president began having an increasingly testy relationship following Corker's criticism to the Chattanooga Rotary Club last August where he criticized Trump's ambivalent response over who was at fault in deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., between anti-white supremacist demonstrators and neo-Nazis.

After announcing he would not seek re-election Sept. 26, the feud accelerated. Following one presidential tweet, Corker returned fire, calling the White House an "adult day care center" with no one evidently in charge that day. That drew a derisive response from Trump who mocked the senator as "Liddle Bob Corker" who couldn't "get elected dog catcher."

But the duo have since had a public cease fire. Corker has said repeatedly they have since repaired their relationship.


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