Did blog attack on Casada help him win majority leader post?

Rep. Glen Casada says an video showing him at a bar with a young woman was an effort to “sabotage” his election as House majority leader by trying to deceive lawmakers and others, destroy his reputation and wreck his marriage by implying untruthfully that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Others say the video, posted on an anonymous right-wing blog, may have helped him win the contest with Rep. Mike Carter, reports the Times-Free Press.

“These are outrageous tactics,” charged Casada.

He added that if elected “I will expose these people. Help me stop this.”

Carter later denounced the video, calling it beyond the pale… Carter said he “absolutely did not” have anything to do with the video posted on the Rocky Top Politics blog, which often attacks Republicans it disagrees with. The list includes Harwell and Gov. Bill Haslam.

“It was as big a shock to me as it was to him,” Carter said of the video. “It was a gross distraction. It was unfair to Glen and it was offensive to all of us.”

Casada and Carter were vying to replace Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, as majority leader, the No. 2 post in the chamber after speaker.

McCormick said he believes that instead of hurting Casada, the House GOP Caucus chairman, the video sealed the election for him.

“I’ve known Mike Carter for over 20 years and I would bet my house he was not involved in it,” McCormick said.

“I think you had some other people or groups involved in it. I don’t know who they are, but I think the caucus resented that at the last second, their coming in and basically trying to affect our caucus election,” he said.

“And I think it played to Glen’s favor,” McCormick added. “I think it boomeranged the other way and that’s what the caucus said.”