| There's a whole lotta shakin' going on in Tennessee today. First, the big news: ex-Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. won't run for Governor. For the Democrats, that leaves the field to state Sen. Roy Herron, Nashville businessman Ward Cammack, and former state House Majority Leader Kim McMillan. Mike McWherter, a distributor of beer and son of popular former Gov. Ned McWherter, is also a rumored candidate for the nomination. On the Republican side of the fence, GOP Rep. Zach Wamp, Memphis DA Bill Gibbons and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam will duke it out.
And speaking of Wamp, while his Chattanooga-based 3rd District is a tough nut to crack for any Democrat, it has been competitive in the past (Marilyn Lloyd, a conservative Democrat, held the district for twenty years before retiring in 1994, the same year that Wamp won the open seat with 52% of the vote), and it looks like Tennessee Dems are set to make more than just a token effort for the seat. The Knoxville News reports that former Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers is set to jump into the race:
Oak Ridge attorney Warren Gooch, who was flirting with running for the 3rd District Congressional seat, has decided not to be a candidate for the Democratic nomination in next year's election, but former state Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers, who also lives in Oak Ridge, is going to run.
"I'm getting my plans in order, getting my ducks in a row. I'm putting an exploratory committee together," she said. She said she would have an announcement in a couple of weeks. [...]
But Gooch does feel that Flowers, who served in the state job for Gov. Phil Bredesen in his first term, would be the right candidate, he said.
"Paula's background and credentials (are strong) against a likely candidate from Hamilton County, with the most likely (GOP candidate) the current Republican state chairman, Robin Smith," Gooch said.
SSP's analysis of the 2008 vote shows that McCain romped in the 3rd CD by a 62-37 margin, so this would be tough sledding even if the GOP finds itself muddied due to a contentious primary. Still, Flowers will bring some serious fundraising connections to the table, and her background may prove attractive to the rural portions of this district: she's currently serving as the VP of an energy company that's seeking to develop local farm-grown switchgrass into biofuel. |
