Those of us who follow Tennessee politics all have our favorites in the race for Governor, and if you are a Republican you hope your man stays in the game right to the end. There is hope, and then there are real monetary issues related to former candidates' endorsements:
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam today opened his campaign's Memphis office, flanked by his honorary campaign chairman former Sen. Howard Baker Jr. and several notable Memphians and former supporters of one of his opponents.
The former statewide campaign chairman of Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons' gubernatorial bid, David Kustoff, now supports Mayor Haslam and has agreed to serve as one his statewide Co-Chairs in his effort to win the Republican nomination for governor on Aug. 5.
"My wife Crissy is a native Memphian, and we've been coming home here for years. This city is incredibly important to Tennessee historically, culturally and economically, and that's why I'm dedicated to working with local leaders to develop a Memphis-specific strategy so we can best capitalize on Memphis' unique opportunities and overcome any challenges," Haslam added.
Apparently, Bill Haslam now feels that the political situation is such that he and his campaign can begin to close the pincers around his intra-party opposition. It has long been something of an accepted piece of wisdom that Bill Gibbons' presence in the campaign was helping both of Bill Haslam's opponents by taking Shelby County's votes off the table. Memphis and Shelby County are hardly paragons of conservative Republicanism-Shelby County is heavily Democratic-but the sheer size of the population of Shelby County means that it has more Republican Primary voters than any other Tennessee county, including those in traditionally GOP-heavy East Tennessee.
By establishing a heavy ground presence in Shelby County now, the Haslam campaign is showing that it will spend the money and effort to get those primary votes. Both Ron Ramsey and Zach Wamp had better pay close attention, because there is no way either of them can pull off what can only be considered at this point in the game to be an upset without seriously undercutting the efforts of the Haslams in Shelby County.
In Tennessee's race for the Republican nomination for Governor, it is now officially crunch time.
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