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News from Tennessee

By Aaron Broder
Scholastic Kids Press Corps

Republican Bob Corker hugs campaign worker Shannon Smith as Corker visits his campaign headquarters, November 8, 2006. (Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/AP Images)

November 8, 2006

A Heated Senatorial Race

Republican Bob Corker defeated Democrat Harold Ford in a close race. Corker received a reported 51 percent of the vote.

This year's race was one of the most exciting in Tennessee. In addition to being one of the many states in which the Democrats hoped to win a chair in order to gain majority in the Senate, it was also a very close campaign.

Since the start, the two candidates were neck and neck. It was only in the few days before the election that Corker pulled ahead of Ford by a slim margin. Hoping to tip the scales, both candidates endorsed commercials throughout the campaign that cast the other candidate in a bad light.

Decided Gubernatorial

Meanwhile, Democrat Phil Bredesen will be serving his second term as Governor of Tennessee.

Unlike the senatorial campaign, which had no clear winner during the campaign, the Governor was virtually elected before the election ever took place. Phil Bredesen, the incumbent for the gubernatorial race, had the lead since the beginning of the campaign, and the Republican candidate Jim Bryson appeared to have little chance at a win. Bredesen won with a reported 69 percent of the vote.