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

Precinct	Total Vote	B	G	Margin	%Margin	Bush	Gore	Other	Bush	Gore	Other
01 S Holston Ruritan	442	1	2	31	7.01%	52.71%	45.70%	1.58%	233	202	7
02Hv Holston View	1,369	1	2	505	36.89%	67.64%	30.75%	1.61%	926	421	22
02Vp Valley Pike	392	1	2	52	13.27%	56.12%	42.86%	1.02%	220	168	4
03 Hickory Tree Fire	464	1	2	142	30.60%	64.44%	33.84%	1.72%	299	157	8
04A Avoca School	844	1	2	153	18.13%	57.94%	39.81%	2.25%	489	336	19
04Os Avoca Firehl	1,018	1	2	258	25.34%	61.89%	36.54%	1.57%	630	372	16
05N Sullivan Cnty N	925	1	2	145	15.68%	57.30%	41.62%	1.08%	530	385	10
05S Public Library	1,232	1	2	308	25.00%	61.61%	36.61%	1.79%	759	451	22
06 Central Heights	845	1	2	160	18.93%	57.99%	39.05%	2.96%	490	330	25
07 Indian Springs	1,845	1	2	735	39.84%	69.27%	29.43%	1.30%	1,278	543	24
07C Firehall #3	357	1	2	163	45.66%	71.99%	26.33%	1.68%	257	94	6
08 Buffalo Ruritan	506	1	2	108	21.34%	59.29%	37.94%	2.77%	300	192	14
09 Piney Flats Fire	974	1	2	195	20.02%	59.14%	39.12%	1.75%	576	381	17
10Bd Ketron Ms	1,283	1	2	269	20.97%	59.78%	38.82%	1.40%	767	498	18
10Ob Orebank Mb	640	1	2	114	17.81%	57.19%	39.38%	3.44%	366	252	22
11Aj A Johnson Sch	554	1	2	46	8.30%	53.25%	44.95%	1.81%	295	249	10
11C Kingsport Annex	547	1	2	39	7.13%	52.29%	45.16%	2.56%	286	247	14
11Cg Cedar Grove	949	1	2	205	21.60%	59.96%	38.36%	1.69%	569	364	16
11D Dickson Center	765	1	2	148	19.35%	58.56%	39.22%	2.22%	448	300	17
11E Renaissance Ctr	741	1	2	263	35.49%	67.21%	31.71%	1.08%	498	235	8
11G Gravely School	499	1	2	93	18.64%	58.32%	39.68%	2.00%	291	198	10
11J Grace Evangel	1,024	1	2	237	23.14%	60.55%	37.40%	2.05%	620	383	21
11R Kingsport Ch.	1,194	1	2	230	19.26%	58.46%	39.20%	2.35%	698	468	28
11S Civic Auditorium	973	2	1	158	16.24%	40.90%	57.14%	1.95%	398	556	19
11W Kingsport Libry	651	2	1	22	3.38%	47.00%	50.38%	2.61%	306	328	17
12Br N. Kpt Firehal	526	1	2	127	24.14%	61.41%	37.26%	1.33%	323	196	7
12Cb Ridgefields	1,096	1	2	346	31.57%	64.87%	33.30%	1.82%	711	365	20
12Lg Lynn View Ms	589	1	2	52	8.83%	53.82%	44.99%	1.19%	317	265	7
12Ok Firehall #4	820	1	2	116	14.15%	56.59%	42.44%	0.98%	464	348	8
12Wv Wv Baptist	487	1	2	93	19.10%	58.52%	39.43%	2.05%	285	192	10
13P Sull. South HS	1,770	1	2	441	24.92%	61.81%	36.89%	1.30%	1,094	653	23
14Ch Colon. Hgts. Ms	2,057	1	2	677	32.91%	65.53%	32.62%	1.85%	1,348	671	38
14Mp Miller Perry S	1,440	1	2	459	31.87%	64.93%	33.06%	2.01%	935	476	29
15 Sullivan West Ms	1,006	1	2	137	13.62%	55.96%	42.35%	1.69%	563	426	17
16Bc Bluff City Ms	1,043	1	2	117	11.22%	54.84%	43.62%	1.53%	572	455	16
16Cg Chinquapin	455	1	2	94	20.66%	60.22%	39.56%	0.22%	274	180	1
17E Fairmount Sch	1,139	1	2	48	4.21%	51.19%	46.97%	1.84%	583	535	21
17S Haynesfield Sch	892	1	2	136	15.25%	56.28%	41.03%	2.69%	502	366	24
17W Anderson School	1,346	1	2	189	14.04%	55.94%	41.90%	2.15%	753	564	29
18 Holston Mid Sch	625	1	2	142	22.72%	60.48%	37.76%	1.76%	378	236	11
19H E Cherokee Sch	118	1	2	7	5.93%	50.85%	44.92%	4.24%	60	53	5
20 Rocky Spgs. Comm	577	1	2	134	23.22%	60.66%	37.44%	1.91%	350	216	11
21 Weaver School	852	1	2	162	19.01%	59.15%	40.14%	0.70%	504	342	6
22 Holston Valley Ms	409	1	2	112	27.38%	62.59%	35.21%	2.20%	256	144	9
Absentee	1,475	1	2	361	24.47%	61.36%	36.88%	1.76%	905	544	26
Early	15,972	1	2	3,759	23.53%	61.21%	37.67%	1.12%	9,776	6,017	179
Total	55,727	1	2	12,128	21.76%	60.08%	38.32%	1.60%	33,482	21,354	891