VOLuntarilyConservative

Seems like several Chattanooga-area Tennesseans are supporting Ed Bryant for Senate. Check out these letters from the Chattanooga Times-Free Press and the Chattanoogan.

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GOP, nation need Bryant in Senate

Many Republicans are only looking at the August primary at this time.

It is my belief and many of my West Tennessee friends that Republicans must look toward the November election when considering whom to vote for in the Senate race.

In the last 40 years we have elected five Republican senators: Sens. Baker, 1966; Brock, 1970; Frist and Thompson, 1994; and Alexander, 2002.

The last senator elected from West Tennessee was Kenneth D. McKellar, who retired in January 1953.

As everyone should know, Harold Ford Jr. will be the Democratic nominee in the November election.

There is only one way a Republican candidate will defeat Ford. That is with the help of West Tennessee.

Ford has a strong base in West Tennessee, but my friends tell me that independents and conservative Democrats would be willing to vote for a Republican candidate if he was from West Tennessee.

Ed Bryant is the only Republican candidate from West Tennessee. He is highly qualified and has the experience.

For the sake of our Grand Old Party, President Bush and our nation, please vote for Ed Bryant in the August Republican primary.

HOMER HOLDREDGE
Cleveland, Tenn.

Why Did Bob Corker Go Negative?

Bob Corker, who "always keeps his word," stated that he would not "go negative" in this campaign. He said his father had instilled in him the principle that "if you have to run another man down to get ahead, then maybe you need to pursue something else."

But I guess when your popularity is slipping everywhere, including Hamilton County, you just toss your principles right out the window and kick in as much cash as it takes to get ahead.

Bob Corker went one better though with his latest ad (that by the way you won't see posted on his website). In this ad, he told an out and out lie. I guess his dad didn't get around to the lesson about telling the truth.

But don't take my word for it take it from Jack Mc Elroy, the editor of the Knoxville Sentinel who endorsed Bob Corker for U.S. Senate. Mr McElroy says that Bob Corker's latest attack ad stating that both Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary voted to give themselves a pay raise is a lie, not a streach, a lie.

When Corker's campaign manger Ben Mitchell tried to retort saying that "the accusation is 100% true," Mr. Mc Elroy fired back, "No, it's not. Only by the most twisted manipulation of facts - and certainly not with a straight face - can that assertion be made."

The question to ask yourself at the end of the day is why would a campaign that touts the largest base of grassroots support in the history of Tennessee, a large lead in the polls and the most electable candidate resort to tactics that smack of fright and panic?

I, for one, am tired of the hypocrisy and have been for quite sometime.

Monica Jacks
Concerned Chattanoogan

A true conservative? Choose Bryant

I read with interest your July 20 editorial regarding the need for conservative state legislators, and I couldn't agree more.

Equally important is the need for conservative legislators in the United States Senate.

Unfortunately you have chosen to support a candidate for the Senate whose conservatism is in question.

Ed Bryant has a conservative track record. Ed Bryant has the better chance of winning over Rep. Harold Ford.

If the people of Tennessee want a true conservative to represent them in the United States Senate, they should vote for Ed Bryant.

ROBERT RENO
Ooltewah