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XXXXX DRUDGE RETORT XXXXX 16:04:52 UTC MON OCT 26 1998 XXXXX Murdering Your Opponent Poor Campaign Strategy, Republicans Concede!
By Rogers Cadenhead MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Republicans both inside and outside of Tennessee are calling on one of their own to shut down his campaign only weeks before the November election. Byron "Low Tax" Looper, a GOP candidate for the Tennessee state senate, is being asked to withdraw his bid to unseat Sen. Tommy Burks, a four-term incumbent first elected in 1978. Looper's longshot bid to defeat Burks was seemingly helped by the shooting death of the senator at his Upper Cumberland hog farm on Oct. 19, since it leaves him as the only candidate on the ballot. "It was a real shot in the arm," U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson told reporters later that day. "Times like these make you appreciate a system in which alternative political parties can't get listed on the ballot." Looper suffered a setback on Friday when the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department charged him with first-degree murder in the Burks killing. Tennessee political observers believe that Looper may have shot himself in the foot with this tactic. "People gonna say he soft on crime," Vice President Al Gore told the DRUDGE RETORT. "It reminds me of an ol' sayin' we has rounds these parts dat my grandpappy done tol' me: 'Lawdy sakes, chillun. Don't be killin' yo' political opponent lessen you be lookin' soft on crime.'" The PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER will be reporting in Tuesday editions that Looper used his one phone call to revise his stance on the issue of gun-related violence. "We believe that there's a difference between a murder that is committed for financial gain and one that represents the assailant's strongly held belief that the victim is harming the economy," the POST-INTELLIGENCER was told by Looper's new campaign chairman, a Cumberland Justice Center inmate identified only as "Easy-G." [Easy-G also said that when he is released, "that bitch is going to get hers." That bitch could not be reached for comment despite numerous calls by the DRUDGE RETORT to the shelter, her workplace and her new boyfriend's crib.] With the exception of former U.S. Rep. Bob Dornan, Republicans around the country are distancing themselves from Looper. "People keep saying this is about murder," twiggy constitutional hobbyist Ann Coulter told HANNITY & COLMES on their telecast Sunday. "This isn't about murder. It's about lying and obstruction of justice. If we can't trust Mr. Looper to tell the truth about this, how can we trust him to tell the truth about the hard issues faced by the Volunteer State in the 21st century?" © DRUDGE RETORT 1998 |