Monday, November 27, 2006

This Confounds Me...

In skulking - only virtually, sadly - around the Tennessee House, a chamber of which, had I been whisked away only weeks before, at an "eccentric millionaire's" behest last winter, I would have enjoyed an insider's tour by one of that institution's resident (and perhaps preeminent) historians, I came across this curiosity: an Afro-Am Democratic state Rep., unopposed in this last election, representing Tennessee's 2nd State House district.

This is curious on two folds: First of all, the Hon. Nathan Vaughan (a very distant relation of the Border Vaughts?) represents Kingsport, although merely the largest settlement, though still yet not the county seat, of Sullivan County, Tenn., the hick 'burgh nevertheless enjoys notoriety as a leg of the tripod known as the "Tri-Cities" of the Volunteer State's Grand Division of East Tennessee. Along with Johnson City, Kingsport shares this distinction with Bristol, where country music as we know it - or never knew it (think Garth Brooks) - was born, commercially, when the haunting sounds of the Carter family, hailing from the Hills & Hollers of SW Virginia, and Jimmie Rodgers, the Blue Yodler transplanted from the Alabama-Mississippi border, were captured, manufactured and disseminated as far and wider than even WSM's signal could travel. Kingsport, though, can boast of its favorite daughter, Miss Bettie Page.

Kingsport's modest industrial heritage rendered it less rock-ribbed in the Republicanism of the surrounding counties of East Tennessee, but it remains a commercial crossroads for area, a Unionist redoubt during the Civil War. Indeed, while presidential races were hotly contested - reflecting the close division here during the "War Between the States" - Sullivan Co. refused to offer up Republican majorities until 1952, save for the anti-Papist fervor of '28. And, though Wallace posted a "respectable" second place in '68, that only underscores how Wallace's populist appeal was broad enough not only to capture votes in the racially charged reaches of the North, but also to make inroads into Appalachia's Mountain Republican counties, once loyal to the Union and, due to the scarcity of Afro-Ams living amongst them, rarely agitated by base racial appeals that resonated through much of the South. That ancestral Unionism bequeathed a history of Republican partisanship not only uncommon to the South, but rarely replicated, then, outside of rural New England.

Indeed, Sullivan County's population is mere 1.89% "Black or African-American," and Kingsport, proper, registers a less modest 4.22% Now, East Tennessee has always had a rebellious streak, not only challenging the Confederacy, but the early United States, too. Sullivan County was included in the ill-fated breakaway "Lost State of Franklin," that sought recognition by the U.S. government in the late 18th Century.

So, I understand how gun owning, peanut farmer Yellow Dog Democrats in Georgia, living among a considerable black population, could be convinced to retain their partisanship when a savvy, Good Ole "Boy" Blue Dog like Sanford Bishop can work the county BBQs and speak their language. But, tell me: how does a honky whose great-great grandpappy came down off the mountain to don a blue uniform and shoot toward Memphis, and his great-grandpappy who never even saw a black man overcome his Republican partisanship to return a black man to the state House with a (D) next to his name?

For more, note this: Kerry didn't even carry a precinct in Kingsport, let alone Sullivan Co. and favorite son, Albert Gore, Jr. only captured two in 2000:

2000 Presidential Election Data - Tennessee

Sullivan County by Precinct

PrecinctTotal VoteBGMargin %MarginBushGoreOtherBushGoreOther
01 S Holston Ruritan44212317.01% 52.71% 45.70% 1.58%233202 7
02Hv Holston View1,3691250536.89% 67.64% 30.75% 1.61%926421 22
02Vp Valley Pike392125213.27% 56.12% 42.86% 1.02%220168 4
03 Hickory Tree Fire4641214230.60% 64.44% 33.84% 1.72%299157 8
04A Avoca School8441215318.13% 57.94% 39.81% 2.25%489336 19
04Os Avoca Firehl1,0181225825.34% 61.89% 36.54% 1.57%630372 16
05N Sullivan Cnty N9251214515.68% 57.30% 41.62% 1.08%530385 10
05S Public Library1,2321230825.00% 61.61% 36.61% 1.79%759451 22
06 Central Heights8451216018.93% 57.99% 39.05% 2.96%490330 25
07 Indian Springs1,8451273539.84% 69.27% 29.43% 1.30%1,278543 24
07C Firehall #33571216345.66% 71.99% 26.33% 1.68%25794 6
08 Buffalo Ruritan5061210821.34% 59.29% 37.94% 2.77%300192 14
09 Piney Flats Fire9741219520.02% 59.14% 39.12% 1.75%576381 17
10Bd Ketron Ms1,2831226920.97% 59.78% 38.82% 1.40%767498 18
10Ob Orebank Mb6401211417.81% 57.19% 39.38% 3.44%366252 22
11Aj A Johnson Sch55412468.30% 53.25% 44.95% 1.81%295249 10
11C Kingsport Annex54712397.13% 52.29% 45.16% 2.56%286247 14
11Cg Cedar Grove9491220521.60% 59.96% 38.36% 1.69%569364 16
11D Dickson Center7651214819.35% 58.56% 39.22% 2.22%448300 17
11E Renaissance Ctr7411226335.49% 67.21% 31.71% 1.08%498235 8
11G Gravely School499129318.64% 58.32% 39.68% 2.00%291198 10
11J Grace Evangel1,0241223723.14% 60.55% 37.40% 2.05%620383 21
11R Kingsport Ch.1,1941223019.26% 58.46% 39.20% 2.35%698468 28
11S Civic Auditorium9732115816.24% 40.90% 57.14% 1.95%398556 19
11W Kingsport Libry65121223.38% 47.00% 50.38% 2.61%306328 17
12Br N. Kpt Firehal5261212724.14% 61.41% 37.26% 1.33%323196 7
12Cb Ridgefields1,0961234631.57% 64.87% 33.30% 1.82%711365 20
12Lg Lynn View Ms58912528.83% 53.82% 44.99% 1.19%317265 7
12Ok Firehall #48201211614.15% 56.59% 42.44% 0.98%464348 8
12Wv Wv Baptist487129319.10% 58.52% 39.43% 2.05%285192 10
13P Sull. South HS1,7701244124.92% 61.81% 36.89% 1.30%1,094653 23
14Ch Colon. Hgts. Ms2,0571267732.91% 65.53% 32.62% 1.85%1,348671 38
14Mp Miller Perry S1,4401245931.87% 64.93% 33.06% 2.01%935476 29
15 Sullivan West Ms1,0061213713.62% 55.96% 42.35% 1.69%563426 17
16Bc Bluff City Ms1,0431211711.22% 54.84% 43.62% 1.53%572455 16
16Cg Chinquapin455129420.66% 60.22% 39.56% 0.22%274180 1
17E Fairmount Sch1,13912484.21% 51.19% 46.97% 1.84%583535 21
17S Haynesfield Sch8921213615.25% 56.28% 41.03% 2.69%502366 24
17W Anderson School1,3461218914.04% 55.94% 41.90% 2.15%753564 29
18 Holston Mid Sch6251214222.72% 60.48% 37.76% 1.76%378236 11
19H E Cherokee Sch1181275.93% 50.85% 44.92% 4.24%6053 5
20 Rocky Spgs. Comm5771213423.22% 60.66% 37.44% 1.91%350216 11
21 Weaver School8521216219.01% 59.15% 40.14% 0.70%504342 6
22 Holston Valley Ms4091211227.38% 62.59% 35.21% 2.20%256144 9
Absentee1,4751236124.47% 61.36% 36.88% 1.76%905544 26
Early15,972123,75923.53% 61.21% 37.67% 1.12%9,7766,017 179
Total55,7271212,12821.76% 60.08% 38.32% 1.60%33,48221,354 891

No comments: