By Candice Ludlow
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-912864.mp3
Memphis, TN – The eighth congressional district stretches from Millington past Jackson and towards Nashville. That seat has been under Democratic control for more than 100 years. Almost immediately after longtime "Blue Dog" Democrat John Tanner of Union City announced his retirement, Republicans jumped in.
Five contestants have the seat in sight, but the real fight is between a farmer and two doctors. Last week, a Republican polling firm announced that Stephen Fincher, the farmer from Frog Jump, leads George Flinn and Ron Kirkland by at least nine points.
Fincher is a Constitutionalist. He says, "We need representatives that are going to say you know what the Constitution means, what it really says. It's not an outdated document. It's real."
Fincher isn't the only one touting the Constitution and state's rights. All believe the federal government has overstepped its bounds. All want to repeal the healthcare bill. And all say the feds should stay out of the educational system.
"The best thing I can do from Washington is ax the Education Department," said Kirkland. "We need to return to the correct history of this country. It is a tragedy that our history that is taught in schools no longer properly includes instruction on the Constitution for example. Every child by the time he gets to high school, should have been grilled on the Constitution, so they know the Constitution backwards and forwards. The early schools, as you know, typically had as their reader, a Biblical-based reader. I wish we'd go back to that."
Flinn, who's the other doctor in the race, and Fincher don't go quite as far as suggesting biblical readers in school. Still, they believe in local control over schools, not the federal government.
Flinn sees himself as a job creator. "What I've done is create jobs throughout my life, in the medical practice as well as broadcasting. What I learned in creating jobs is you don't spend more than you take in, you don't run up debt. That's the way I did with radio," Flinn said. "I started out with one radio station, I had two employees. And then when that one paid for itself, I built another one and then another one."
The candidates have another thing in common, wanting to get back to the basics, to another time.