Many children born the last year Tennessee elected a Democrat to the United States Senate – 27 years ago in 1990 – now have children of their own.
The man elected that year was Al Gore, who went on to resign from office to serve eight years as vice president under President Bill Clinton and then remake himself as a fringe-left environmental crusader.
With Thursday’s announcement that former Gov. Phil Bredesen will contend for the nomination in 2018, Democrats believe they have a candidate who can return the party to the Senate chamber.
But can he?
Bredesen, 74, undoubtedly was a relatively popular man when he left office after two terms. Though the nation’s economy tanked during his last year in office, he stabilized the state’s over-budget TennCare health system that he inherited in 2003 by making cuts, including cutting 191,000 from the insurance program’s rolls, and later established Cover Tennessee to provide coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and the uninsured.