Styles: “As far as I can see, you seem to have stayed out of the tit-for-tat fray (like other candidates)…”

Corker: “You know, when I ran for mayor here, we did the same thing. We got out and knocked 9,800 doors in the campaign. I told the citizens here exactly what I was going to do and hopefully (I) did that. I believe I did. I believe I did that and more. In this campaign, I’m doing the same thing. I’m talking about what I want to do in the United States Senate, what I want to see the country be and all of those kind of things and I think it’s a very clear, succinct message that’s focused on what I want to do, not on tearing down the other candidates.”

Styles: “(This is the) first time Tennessee has been a battle state, really, in quite some time.”

Corker: “It really is a battle state. You know there are a lot of things going on at the national level and the world that basically will affect this campaign. And it’s Bill Frist’s seat. He’s majority leader. He obviously got involved in other races around the country a couple of years ago. There will be people from all over this country watching this race and it could, no doubt, be the seat that keeps the balance of power where it is. It’s very, very important.”

Styles: “What issues are most important to you?”

Corker: “You know, there are four things that I’m focused on in this race, four principles, and one of the things I think differentiates me from other candidates in this race is that throughout my entire life, as a business person or as a volunteer in the community or as a public official, I really have used conservative principles to create positive results. I’ve done that throughout my entire life, and so I want to take that same ability and principles, conservative principles, and hopefully create positive results at the national level.

One of those is the tremendous power of economic growth to create great-paying jobs, something that I focused on everyday here as mayor. You know, the world is changing. We’ve been a beacon to world as a model of prosperity and certainly have had a wonderful century; the last 100 hundred years has been great for Americans as our standard of living is growing, but the world is changing. I was just in China about seven weeks ago meeting with central government folks, meeting with people from our consulate and ambassador’s office, meeting with business leaders and university leaders, and there are 1.3 billion people there that are being highly educated in maths and sciences, turning out five times the engineers we are. The infrastructure that’s being put in place to support job growth there is phenomenal, and I just want to make sure that we as a country have the discipline to do those things that make sure that this is another great American century, that we focus on making sure that our youth are well-prepared for the future and understand the challenges that are coming up, that we make sure that we certainly focus on alternative fuels and other sources of energy so that we are not so dependent on other regions of the world. I want to make sure that we do those things to continue to chip away and make sure that healthcare is affordable and accessible and portable, but, more than anything else, make sure that this is where innovation takes place. You know, I was just up at the Oak Ridge lab yesterday and saw that little fiber optic switch where Chattanooga became the only city in America connected to those super computers, understanding that that was something that would help us drive research here in our community. (There’s) no doubt that’s what’s led to us having this distributed model hydrogen fuel cell actually on the ground here in Chattanooga, that’s actually powering a building. But innovation an making sure that we are competitive is one.

Number two: certainly continuing to focus on the safety and security of America and making sure that we do continue to have the world’s best military, but that we also have a streamlined Homeland Security that’s actually effective. One of the weaknesses that I think we have today is our porous southern border. When I came back (from China), they checked my passport and wanted to make sure that I was who I said I was and yet, for some reason, we’ve turned our head to thousands of people who cross our borders daily. I’m all for legal immigration – people that come here to work and study and learn the English language, and some of the best companies and best citizens we have are legal immigrants -- but, for some reason, we’re not taking as a security threat our southern border and I think that it is.”

Styles: “Two issues real quick before we go to the first caller…”

Corker: “I’ve got a few more points, but go ahead…”

Styles: “Well, you know how fast an hour goes. You’ve been on here before.”

Corker: “Right, go ahead.”

Styles: “What’s your stance (on the ports issue)?”

Corker: “You know, I was shocked, too, to read about it. I’m very seldom home, but that night before when it was actually announced, I was speaking here in Chattanooga the next day. My wife and I were sitting up in bed and my wife said, ‘What do you think about that?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. Let me hear what they’re saying.’ This is a shock to me. We’ve got a 45-day period where we’ll all gain a much better understanding of what’s taking place. I do think there are vital things that we do in our country that relate to our security that we need to make sure, if it is a security risk, that the United States is in control of that. But then, again, I think we’ve got a 45-day period that’s warranted where all of us going to understand much more fully not only what’s happening with this particular contract, but probably what’s happening with ports all around America. I’m glad it’s happened. I’m glad it’s an opportunity for us to vett this issue. But I’ll go back to innovation: I was just up two days ago, again, in Oak Ridge in Anderson County for our kick-off there and we’ve got companies right here in Tennessee that are doing things like creating radiation shields, where all of the products that come in and out of America can actually be tested and we can know – you know, we’re only testing five percent of them now to see what’s coming in and out of America. Those are the kinds of things, innovations, that I think will make Tennessee strong but also our country strong in the process.”

(Styles mentions that nobody’s quite sure about what’s traveling up and down the river…)

Corker: “Not to speak of the 18-wheelers that go up and down the roadways. As mayor, that was something that, during those periods of time when we were concerned, that we knew we had some vulnerability.”

“Let me just mention one other point – and there’s lots that I could go into – but I think one of the main focuses that I will take to the United States Senate, too, is just controlling spending. Since the year 2000, our spending has gotten totally out of control. I look at things and, you know, the things that we easily understand and just become outraged about are things like a $250-million bridge to nowhere in Alaska because in the dark of night in a conference committee somebody was able to put that in. Those kinds of things are symbolic to me of Washington being out of control as it relates to spending. By the year 2008, we’ll have $10 trillion in debt and Jeff, there are 77 million people like me that are getting ready to move through the system in my age group, baby boomers that are going to put all kinds of stresses on financial issues in America and that’s something I really have dealt with all of my life as mayor, I was able to leave the city in the position to have the lowest property tax rate since the 1950s. Government was actually smaller after I left. I did that as Commissioner of Finance in the middle ‘90s, and that’s something that I really want to take to Washington and push hard on. You work until probably April 17 of this year just to pay your taxes. That’s before you start taking care of your family and your kids and you want to make sure that have somebody in Washington that absolutely is a good steward of your money.”

Styles: “Your successor, Mayor Littlefield, his comments in a Chattanooga Times Free Press article have been used now against you…”

Corker: “Um, hmm…”

Styles: “This is the Ed Bryant for Senate page” ‘Bob Corker Fraudwatch, Day 14.’ And what they’ve done is pulled some stuff out of a Times Free Press article about, of course, a number of the city employees that have either been charged or there’s an investigation for, basically, fraudulent practices that have been going on for years and years and years around here. And Mayor Littlefield is quoted as saying that he kind of gave you guys a heads-up and then left it for y’all to deal with and, if they dealt with it, ‘well, it was still going on when I came into office.’ Now, I’m paraphrasing there, but that’s essentially what he said. And they actually named the employees and what happened…Respond to that. They made it look like Mayor Littlefield is kind of leaving you to twist in the wind there.”

Corker: “Yeah, I’ve talked to Mayor Littlefield and I applaud his efforts, I really do, to weed out things. When you’ve got 2,500 employees in the city and you’ve got people at recreation centers and other types of departments – neighborhood services departments that are dealing with petty cash – things happen. We routinely dismissed and fired people who were involved in activities that were inappropriate, but we never made a big deal about it. We didn’t announce it to the public. We just, you know, told them to leave. After Mayor Littlefield leaves, in spite of all of the activities that he’s doing and all of the activities that we did, there will be little things that occur. He did make us aware of one particular department head who had bought some little trinkets for a gathering. They weren’t for him, and he felt like that shouldn’t have occurred and we agreed and we told the guy to quit doing it. It was when neighborhood groups would gather. They would have T-shirts and things like that and I couldn’t agree more. I do want to say, on the other hand, you know, I cut 250 positions out of city government. City government was much smaller when I left, and when I came in, I was able to operate the city for four years where the fourth budget was only one percent higher than the first. The city has the lowest property tax rates since the 1950s, and we did, for the first time in city government’s history, actually put in place performance audits where we met with departments every month. And, again, I applaud Mayor Littlefield for his efforts. I know he didn’t mean for this to be something that is the issue that these other campaigns are making it out to be and I hope that he continues to work diligently just like we did to make sure that you route those kinds of things out. There was one particular individual, I know, that he had some issues with in that regard and we had several conversations with and, again, if you look at the amounts that these people – I mean, we’re talking…”

Styles: “A couple of thousand bucks…”

Corker: “That’s right, and by the way, in a budget that size with that many contacts with the public that people have, there’s always going to be little things that you need to route out. But we did a tremendous amount of that and saved the city millions and millions and millions of dollars.”

Styles: “Two little tangents on that and then we’ll take the first call…Was there any aspect of the type of changes, the amount of changes, the number of changes – either more than you thought, less than you thought – that took place when you left and Littlefield came in? That surprised you? Was there anything that disappointed you? Anything that you said you were glad that he’s picking that up and running with it? Or anything where you said, ‘I can’t believe he let that go?’”

Corker: “You know, I’m adhering to the number one adage that a former mayor needs to adhere to. Look, I think our city has done a great job through the years building off what others have done. You can’t get everything done in a four-year period, and the next mayor comes along and, hopefully, builds upon that. You know, I just don’t make comments ever that are negative about somebody coming in. Sometimes you look at things and, you know, people come in with a different set of backgrounds and they have a different set of lenses as to how to look at things and I actually think that’s very, very healthy. We had a tone and an energy level and a focus and there were things that we wanted to do and we did them. Mayor Littlefield is coming in with a different set of those, being involved in city government for the past 30 years and I think that’s all very healthy. It’s funny, one of the things you want to really make sure continues in a community like ours is to make sure that the police department is highly supported and that, you know, crime stays low; those basic services that you just want to make sure continue to thrive because you know the tremendous impact on individuals on a daily basis.”

Styles: “Obviously, that was sent to us yesterday by Bryant’s campaign…I’ve seen numerous headlines where you’ve been singled out by both Congressman Bryant and Van Hilleary…

Corker: “The highest form of flattery you can have…”

Styles: “We hear this stuff and, again, I’m going to give you credit, I haven’t seen that coming out of your campaign yet. But maybe I’m not picking up the right newspapers and maybe it doesn’t get generated here.”

Corker: “I’m running the same kind of campaign that I ran as mayor. I really know where I want to go in the United States Senate and know those things that I want to focus on and I truly believe that I’ve got a background and experience level that is so different from everybody in this race. I want to make sure that people all across this state know what I want to do in the Senate, and I think that’s going to resonate with people. That’s just the kind of race that I’m used to running and I’m sure at the end there’ll be contrasting things that occur and all that, but our focus has been on what we want to do. I’m highly flattered that not just the other candidates in the primary, but actually in the general election in the state Democratic Party are attacking me the way they are. Again, it’s the highest form of flattery and I know that they view me as somebody…”

Styles: “As a threat...Have they done or said anything that you think is really off the chart?”

Corker: “ Oh, absolutely…”

Styles: “That’s unnecessary…The kind of thing where you take them to the side and say, ‘Look, buddy…’”

Corker: “No, I don’t do that. You can be overheard and all that. But here’s the kind of things that are happening non-stop where they take a half a quote. They’ll go back ten years and take half a quote and then they’ll put it up on a Website and then bloggers all across the state… I mean, it happens every week, you know, and so far we’ve just felt, ‘Look, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing.’ I really believe I’m going to win this race. I do. I believe that with all my heart. We’re building a great foundation. Let’s focus on what we’re doing. Let’s don’t pay attention to all these distortions and inaccuracies. At the end of the day, I really do think voters are pretty smart. I think they feel things out.”

"Let me get one thing clear, though, when I said about the ports thing that I was glad it happened, what I mean is not the issue's happened, the contract, but I'm glad it's happening that we're having this debate where everybody in our country can focus in on what we're actually doing at our ports."

(They then went to calls. For the sake of time, I stopped transcribing at this point.)