November 04, 2005

Gubernatorial Talk - Who will the GOP run?

People are asking...who is going to run for Governor on the GOP side in the state of Tennessee? No one seems to know yet...especially the Republicans themselves.

Rumours are abound though. From the new state political blog Bring the Noise: State Senator Jim Bryson for Governor? I checked on this one last night, and received word that while Senator Bryson was flattered, he is not going to be running for Governor (at least not this time). Although, I think he would make a fine Governor, it's still early in his career. Plus, I've said before that he may be a future U.S. Senator...at least that's who I'd want to be a future Senator.

The other potential/good candidate would be State Representative Beth Harwell. If you remember, Harwell won the blog Gubernatorial straw poll back in July. She'd make a wonderful candidate as well, but there's a catch. She has said that she is holding off on making a decision until next year, but if she doesn't leave her seat by this coming Monday (11/7), her seat will be filled by appointment which would probably be a liberal Democrat (Lynn Williams?). When a legislator leaves their seat with less than a year before their seat goes up for election, the seat is filled by appointment. If she resigned her seat prior to Monday, the Governor would have to call a special election thus allowing a Republican to be elected (her district is Republican). Harwell would be great, but be careful what you wish for. If a Democrat is appointed, then someone will have to defeat an incumbent Democrat in order to gain that seat back for the GOP.

The biggest problem facing a potential Gubernatorial candidate is money. You aren't going anywhere unless you have a stash of campaign cash to start spending immediately. The first person that comes to mind in this regard would be Bob Corker. He could easily match the spending power of Bredesen, but it doesn't seem like Corker is going to get in this race. Most insiders think he is in the Senate race for the long haul (or at least until the primaries).

The other viable person when it comes to money (or name recognition alone) would be Bill Frist. Some are saying that if Bill Frist has ambitions for the White House that he won't get there through the Senate...it would be through a Governor's mansion. However, coming from being the Senate majority leader, it would be a little bit of a step down to become a Governor. If he ran, he'd probably win though...but I don't think he will run.

Jim Henry? He's out.

Fred Thompson? Nope...not going to happen. He's too happy acting. I really do think he's out of politics for good now (much to the GOP's dismay).

So...who is going to run against Bredesen (besides John Jay Hooker...who has a better blog than Bredesen, by the way)? I'm not sure that any viable candidate can be found at this point in time. If you don't have enough money or if you don't have a big name, then you aren't going to win. Even though Bredesen's numbers aren't all that great, he seems unbeatable right now. Liberal Democrats are saying that Bredesen is a Republican anyway due to some of his policies and that's why the GOP isn't pushing anyone. That's not likely the case as a lot of people in the GOP don't like how Bredesen plays party politics. Of course, on the other hand, the last GOP Governor was more like a Democrat.

I do know who will be running for Governor come next time around though (2010)...Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. You can count on that one.

Update: John Jay Hooker isn't the only person officially opposing Bredesen. There's this guy, Carl Whitaker, running for Governor (now on his third web site according to Joe Public).

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