Rep. Gerald McCormick, in a letter to House Republican Caucus members, has decried the nasty GOP primary race and defended candidate Bob Corker.

Rep. McCormick said the Republican discord is working to the advantage of Democratic candidate Harold Ford Jr.

This is his letter:

Dear Fellow Republican Caucus members,

I am writing because of my concern about the tone of the U.S. Senate race that we have watched unfold over the last couple of years. Competition is healthy and we have such a deep bench in the Republican Party that we are going to have competitive primaries in the future and we should welcome that as a sign of strength.

Unfortunately, this primary has been an incredibly negative campaign aimed at the person who is the undoubted front runner, Bob Corker. This sometimes vicious negativity has gone too far and is only serving Harold Ford and the Ford machine at this point.

Let's look at the complaints I keep hearing about Bob:

1) He has raised and spent a lot of money; I thought raising a lot of money in a political race was a good thing. It takes a lot to win statewide and it shows the confidence of the people who are interested enough to contribute to the process. Spending some of his own money may be necessary to beat Harold Ford too. By the way, he started with nothing and made a lot of money in the private sector by working hard and smart while keeping and enhancing his good reputation. Good traits in my book.

2) He raised property taxes when he became Mayor of Chattanooga; Flash back to 1967 when newly elected Governor Ronald Reagan took office in California. He inherited a budget deficit and raised taxes to balance the budget short term while he worked on cutting government in the long term. The exact same situation faced Bob Corker in 2001. He went on to actually cut the number of city employees over the next 4 years and would have been re-elected easily if he had run again. While on the subject of President Reagan, does anyone remember the 11th Commandment?

3) He was not in favor of government involvement in outlawing abortion in 1994: He has repeated many times that his views have changed as he has learned more, grown spiritually, and watched his kids grow up. For the pro-life position to ultimately win don't a lot more minds need to be changed in the future? Bob Corker is pro-life.

4) Bob Corker is running negative ads by pointing out that his opponents are lobbyists that made some self-serving votes while serving in Congress; I wish the Corker campaign had stayed positive all the way throught to election day but I can understand the desire to punch back after being a human pinata' for the last 6 months by both Van and Ed's campaigns. The barrage of emails and press releases aimed at Bob have been some of the ugliest and meanest I have ever seen. Wonder how many good people will never run after watching this primary.

I hope everyone will get behind our nominee on August 3rd. If Van or Ed pulls it out I will be for them 100% in public and private. If Bob wins I know he will be able to count on all of you to do the same.

I know Bob Corker and I know you all. He will make you proud of his work in the United States Senate and will be a stateman in the mold of Howard Baker, Bill Brock, Lamar Alexander, Bill Frist and Fred Thompson. Thank you for your time and patience and I hope you are having a good summer with your families.