MEMPHIS: Day One Buzz
Rumors and more rumors.
Did Bill Frist's VolPAC really pay for 500 Tennesseans to attend the SRLC? (Not nearly half that amount.)
Is Virginia representedy by 400 Allen-ites? (There are about fifty registered attendees.)
There's an effort by some GOP officials to convince folks to vote for Pres. Bush. (True, sort of: GOPers are passing out a "Write In President Bush -- Support Our Troops" sticker.) (See our update, above.)
Ron Kaufman is wearing a cowboy hat? (True.)
The Draft Condi folks are in the house? (And how -- they even are running a radio ad in Memphis, although it's not clear that any of the registrants will listen to the radio during their stay.)
And then there is this delicious dollop of deep-fried Dixie revenge served up this morning by Trent Lott via CNN's Morning Grind:
"Sen. Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) told the Grind he believes the poll -- that will be conducted by The Hotline at the
Southern Republican Leadership Conference -- is 'a rigged deal' and
should not serve as a barometer to determine who might be the best candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. 'Frist is bussing people in,' Lott said, referring to Senate Majority
Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), whose political organization is working to ensure he wins this unscientific early test of election viability. 'These are not real delegates. These are people being bussed in to produce the results. It is a rigged deal. It doesn't matter.'"
More on the Frist/Lott tension from somebody who knows a thing or two about the South and national politics. Mississippi native/longtime Boston Globe political reporter Curtis Wilkie was quoted in this morning's Memphis Commercial Appeal as saying "it's an understatement to say" that Frist won't be able "to count on Senator Lott's support." Wilkie: "And generally, when you have a candidate coming out of a region, it's not helpful when you have a major player from that region being not only not supportive but very much opposed to you."
Remember, Lott will be squiring John McCain around at the reception tonight for all those Mississippians who made the drive up I-55.