Lipscomb alumni keep friendship during heated political campaign

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Tom Ingram, Lipscomb class of 1967, and Beecher Frasier, class of 1998, both serve as campaign managers for men hoping to be elected as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. While Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford Jr. engage in their political battle, their campaign managers say they continue to be personal friends.

Both Ingram and Frasier agree that friendships can endure the heat of a political campaign. "We agreed when we took these jobs to touch base every now and then, check in with each other as friends from time to time," said Tom Ingram, Corker's campaign manager.

"Tom is a good guy," said Beecher Frasier, Ford's campaign manager. "Why wouldn't we remain friends?”

Ingram, who majored in sociology at Lipscomb, is a former Nashville newspaper reporter who first came to the Tennessee political arena as manager of Lamar Alexander's gubernatorial campaigns. Ingram was a reporter for The Tennessean and the former Nashville Banner from the mid-1960s into the early 1970s. In 1983, Ingram founded The Ingram Group, a corporate consulting, public and government relations firm. Ingram managed Alexander's successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and served as Alexander's chief of staff in Washington.

Frasier grew up on a Cumberland County farm. He got his degree from Lipscomb in elementary education. He served as an intern at the state legislature and came to know Lincoln Davis, then a state senator whose district included Cumberland County. Instead of working as a teacher, Frasier worked on Davis' legislative staff. Frasier served as the congressman's chief of staff in Washington.

Their similar positions in Washington and their frequent work in Tennessee congressional matters led to their friendship despite their age difference and their political affiliations. They agree to talk across party lines and to not let their political views create a wedge in a lasting friendship.