Heidi Alexander: “late in December, I announced that I would not be a candidate for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2020, and that…”

“late in December, I announced that I would not be a candidate for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2020, and that prompted this cartoon in the Knoxville News Sentinel by Charlie Daniel: He says his name is Alexander. He says he is going to walk across the State. Wonder how far he will go. Here is some character wandering across the State in a red and black shirt, which is what I did 40 years ago when I walked across the State running for Governor. I would like to return the favor to Charlie Daniel because he announced last week that he is retiring from drawing cartoons in the Knoxville News Sentinel, which is a much more significant event than anything I might do because Charlie Daniel has been a fixture in Tennessee for a long time with his gentle skewering of politicians in the Knoxville newspapers. Charlie's cartoons have been the first things I have looked for in the Knoxville newspapers since the year I graduated from Maryville High School in 1958. That is when Charlie first began drawing for the Knoxville Journal. Charlie is a self-taught artist who says he has been drawing ever since he ``picked up a pencil.'' After a stint in the Marine Corps, Charlie studied political science at the University of North Carolina, and he started drawing for the school newspaper. He moved to Knoxville, where he started drawing at what was known as the Knoxville Journal in 1958. That is when I first saw Charlie Daniel's cartoons.…”