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Auto Bail-Out Role Brings Corker National Prominence

December 17, 2008 — US Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), a mere freshman in the nation’s greatest deliberative body, has moved from the sidelines of legislative action to the very center of negotiations that are expected to grant at least a reprieve to the nation’s three major automobile companies. As the automotive giants hover on the brink of bankruptcy, Corker first worked -- ultimately unsuccessfully -- with both Democrats and Republicans in an attempt to broker a deal that could get the support of at least 60 senators, thus requiring significant support from lawmakers in both parties. When that failed, due mainly, said Corker, to the United Auto Workers’ intransigence on some issues, he continued to work the issue, this time consulting with the White House on its rescue proposal.

In the process, the businessman-turned-lawmaker has gotten lots of national media attention, including an appearance on Face the Nation and an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Bloomberg News dubbed him a “new Republican Senate Star.”

In Tennessee, where all the papers have run major stories on his new national prominence, Corker already had a lot of fans.  “He was already known in Tennessee,” says Ed Cromer, editor of the Tennessee Journal. The automobile bailout issue “has done him more good nationally; people seem to have discovered him.”

In addition, he has drawn praise from senate leaders in both parties, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as well as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT).

Corker’s Record

Corker, 56, has a record that reflects not so much political moderation as it does a pragmatism geared toward getting things done. This is reflected in his business background, which includes founding a successful corporation to install drive-through windows in banks and restaurants. He also engaged in major commercial real estate ventures. His government experience has also been results-oriented, first as state Commissioner of Finance and Administration, where he worked on state budgets, and later as mayor of Chattanooga.

Corker’s attempt to reach a bipartisan consensus on aid to the automotive giants is “the kind of thing he’s done before,” says a Nashville source. “He was very involved in bringing the Titans to Tennessee.” The Tennessee Titans, a Nashville-based professional football team, came to the state in 1997. In this and similar endeavors, he not only worked closely with Gov. Sundquist, but also with then-Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen (D), now governor of Tennessee. “They were good friends,” says SPR’s source.

Gang Member

So it is not so surprising that Corker, upon his election to the senate, became a member in good standing of the Senate’s “gang of ten” -- or “gang of 14,” the number shifts depending on the issue -- an informal group of senators from both parties who take seriously Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s remark that “Politics is the art of the possible.” Like most of the Republicans in the group, Corker has a mainly conservative voting record, but he and others in the gang differ from other GOPers who enjoy obstructing what they regard as bad legislation -- and let the devil take the hindmost. In essence, Corker and the rest of the gang are willing to work to forge workable compromises on touchy but important national issues.

There are pluses and minuses to such a role. On the plus side, many voters and much of the news media are pleased when tough problems are tackled with bipartisan support, whether it’s a bank or auto bailout -- or rescue package if you prefer a more neutral term.

On the downside, the hardcore members of each party’s base usually prefer a more ideologically pure approach. Thus, Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) caught a lot of flak for helping broker the bank bailout bill, flak that may have accounted for his failure to achieve a majority on November 4, which forced him into a runoff. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) caught major Hades, including an unsuccessful (34%) primary challenge, for joining his friend John McCain (R-AZ) in trying to work out a compromise on immigration reform, one of a number of high-profile legislative snarls that Graham has been involved in trying to unravel.

Despite the negatives that go with their self-chosen pragmatic paths, both Chambliss and Graham have survived their home-state political wars and remain as more influential members than most lawmakers in the Capitol’s upper chamber.

Tennessee Politics

As for Corker, in the 2006 Republican Primary, he faced two former congressmen who ran as strong conservatives. “They started out calling Corker a moderate and ended up calling him a leftist,” notes one observer. But Corker, who called himself a conservative, won the primary and a tough General Election campaign against then-US Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D).

Corker isn’t likely to suffer as much of a downside as Chambliss and Graham from his recent venture into pragmatism, however, because his efforts to get the United Auto Workers to bring more to the table did not anger his party’s right wing. UAW members from the Saturn Plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, did picket Corker’s Nashville office last week, but moderate or not, Corker’s political base has not depended on organized labor (though he was once a union member himself).

“I don’t think he’s angered the (Tennessee) right wing,” says Tom McNamara, a long-time Tennessee political consultant (R) who often worked with candidates from the more conservative branch of the party. “I know a lot of people who did not support him in the primary who think he did a great job (on the automobile rescue issue).”

Bright Guy

McNamara, who served as Deputy Governor under Gov. Don Sundquist (R) when Corker was Commissioner of Finance and Administration, adds that Corker “was always a very bright guy. He had a good business head.”