Is The 2010 Race For Guv A Replay Of The 2006 Senate Race?

from Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee by Kleinheider

Jonathan Lindberg seems to think so:

Haslam enjoys an advantage that only an unknown candidate with money has, he will be able to define himself. The question in 2006 is the same then in 2010 – will anyone remember the other candidates when the full force of the Haslam ad machine begins?

When it comes to Republican politics, West Tennessee if often forgotten. The major advantage that Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons has though is the same advantage that Ed Bryant had in 2006 – both had West Tennessee all to themselves. Unfortunately, Gibbons does not have the conservative credentials of an Ed Bryant (at this point, the conservative mantel seems to rest on the shoulders of Ramsey). Gibbons though would do well to learn from Bryant, who spent too much of his campaign trying to distance himself from Hilleary, that he forgot at times that his main competitor was Corker.

Make no mistake, Haslam is the competition and Middle Tennessee is the battleground. At this point, Ramsey seems to have the name recognition in Middle Tennessee. However, all four candidates have their sights set on those twenty-or-so counties. It was no coincidence that Gibbons announced his intention to run for Governor not in a newspaper in West Tennessee, but Middle Tennessee.

That is the politics of locality. And so the race begins.