Senate Speaker Ramsey spins wins out of defeats
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has a way of turning spectacular failures into soaring victories.
The latest example is Ramsey’s recent attempt to defeat Democratic state Supreme Court justices in last month’s retention elections as a way to install a Republican attorney general. The ouster effort was solidly defeated at the polls, but the court this week still decided to replace incumbent Attorney General Bob Cooper, a Democrat, with Republican Herbert Slatery.
Previously, Ramsey’s tea party-styled bid for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination ended with a distant third-place finish in the race won by Bill Haslam. Haslam went on to win the governorship by a record margin, but Ramsey was able to exert control over the agenda from his perch in the Senate.
