A new Senate star emerges from the auto row

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Folksy, wry, and relentlessly focused on detail, Corker outshined all his GOP colleagues on the Banking Committee and most of his Democratic ones in interrogating the auto industry executives and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.

Corker’s performance even drew praise from a senior House Democrat with strong ties to organized labor, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa.

At last Friday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing at which the three Detroit CEOs presented their restructuring plans, Kanjorski said to them, “I listened intently to the Senate examination yesterday, and I thought Sen. Corker was excellent. And he basically told all of you gentlemen that, from his business perspective, as a businessman — and he personally is a very successful businessman — he's looked at your balance sheets and he said they just don't work.”

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He added later, “Mr. Corker, he's a Republican. I'm a Democrat. So understand this is very bipartisan, this discussion. I thought he was absolutely on the ball when he talked about the problem with these companies are they're not real companies…They have to be restructured. They have to have ‘haircuts.’”

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Corker got his financial knowhow by starting his own construction company in the 1970s with an initial stake of $8,000. Later he branched out into developing commercial real estate. He was appointed state commissioner of finance and administration and was elected mayor of Chattanooga in 2001.

“He knows what makes businesses successful and unsuccessful, and he makes compelling arguments in clear and understandable terms,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster who worked on Corker’s Senate campaign in 2006.

“He has been extraordinarily effective with fellow senators who share his general perspective but who do not have his detailed understanding of business issues.”