Pulling out all the stops in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race

By R. Neal / November 7, 2006





Yesterday's final push for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Bill Frist saw both major party candidates all over the state making their pitches, and brought an all-star GOP lineup to East Tennessee for Republican candidate Bob Corker.

Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker both started the day in predominantly Republican East Tennessee. Bob Corker's day started early in the Tri-Cities area, and then on to a 9:30 AM rally in downtown Knoxville. Harold Ford Jr. started his day on Bob Corker's home turf in Chattanooga, where he says he was mobbed and couldn't get away making him late for an 11:00 AM rally in Knoxville. After Knoxville, both candidates hit the campaign trail headed west towards Memphis for the big finale.

Bob Corker rolled into downtown Knoxville with an all-star GOP entourage that included Sen. Bill Frist, Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, and Sen. John McCain.

Harold Ford Jr. took a more low-key approach, visiting a popular restaurant in West Knoxville (a Republican stronghold in the heart of the East Tennessee Republican stronghold) with his friend Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN04) to shake hands and ask for votes. He got some good local media coverage, and ABC's Good Morning America was there, too. On Sunday, Ford had a rally in Nashville with Sen. Barak Obama. Bill Clinton has also been to Nashville to stump for Ford at previous events.

As we mentioned earlier, polls are all over the place but internal polls from both camps suggest it is basically tied. Turnout is hard to predict, and it's even harder to predict who will benefit from higher or lower turnout.

Early voting turnout set a new state record at nearly 870,000. But, more and more people are getting used to the idea, and counties like Shelby (Memphis) and Knox (Knoxville) have been doing more early voting promotion and voter education and have opened more early voting centers. Weather may be a factor affecting turnout today, with cloudy/rainy weather across most of the state.

Polls close at 8:00PM. It will be a long day of waiting and we have an interesting evening in store as the results begin rolling in from Tennessee.

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