by Ray Hill | Dec 11, 2016 | Columnist, Hill
By Ray Hill Senator Howard Baker had seen several election cycles diminish Republican gains in 1974 and 1976. Democrats were optimistic about continued success and Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Ned Ray McWherter was asked by President Jimmy Carter...
by Ray Hill | Dec 4, 2016 | Columnist, Hill, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill For much of 1979, Howard Baker was preoccupied with the business of running for president. Senator Baker arrived at the Lyons Township Republican annual steak fry and the temperature was still a broiling 90 degrees as the sun went down. Worse still, the...
by Ray Hill | Nov 27, 2016 | Columnist, Hill, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Fresh from his titanic reelection victory in 1972, Howard Baker returned to the United States Senate on the cusp of becoming a national figure. Richard Nixon had also won an historic reelection victory, but it quickly unraveled. When the Senate appointed...
by Ray Hill | Nov 20, 2016 | Columnist, Hill, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill There were those who believed Howard Baker’s election to the United States Senate was an aberration; some believed Tennessee would return to its Democratic roots in the next election cycle. Yet Richard Nixon carried the Volunteer State in the 1968...
by Ray Hill | Nov 13, 2016 | Columnist, Hill, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Although Howard Baker had not been selected as Richard Nixon’s running mate in 1968, his political star continued to rise. Even as Howard Baker’s political fortunes rose, 1969 was a difficult year for the Baker family. Everett McKinley Dirksen was the last...
by Ray Hill | Oct 30, 2016 | Columnist, Hill, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Howard Baker had accomplished what most observers had believed to be the impossible by defeating Governor Frank Clement for the United States Senate in the November election in 1966. Baker became the first Republican ever to be popularly elected to the U....