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How The Virginia Governor’s Race Is Like Ours

By Kleinheider Posted on November 3, 2009 at 10:28 pm

From the Coolest Generation:

Well, first off, like Virginia we’ve had a successful and popular Democrat in the executive role for the past 8 years (TN = Phil Bredesen, two terms; VA = Mark Warner and Tim Kahne, back-to-back single terms — VA governors can’t run for re-election), and like VA, it is considered almost a given that TN’s next Governor will be a Republican.

Why? Two facts: there is no popular, incumbent Democrat running; and the mood of these “border” states got redder during/after the Presidential election of ‘08. Probably because of this fact, the Democratic candidates for Governor in Tennessee have kept a remarkably low profile, hoping that the Republicans will simply tear each other apart and the remaining Dem will be able to make a decent showing as a result. This didn’t seem to work for Deeds; I don’t see how it could possibly work for Tennessee’s zero-name-recognition cast of Democratic hopefuls.

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3 Responses to “How The Virginia Governor’s Race Is Like Ours”

  1. To be fair, though... writes
    November 4th, 2009 9:04 am

    I’m not sure the Republicans have a candidate who’s got a ton of statewide name recognition other than Ramsey. And, if you are saying that he’ll be the nominee for the Repubs, then that couldn’t be better news for Dems.

  2. Snuffy writes
    November 4th, 2009 3:13 pm

    I’d agree with this blogger, except when they end with:

    “…Tennessee’s zero-name-recognition cast of Democratic hopefuls.”

    Um. So the name “McWherter” is one that Tennesseans have never heard before?

    Not that it will be enough to win in a general election, but let’s not pretend that somehow people know who the Republican candidates are more than they know who the Democratic candidates are.

    The truth is that partisans on both sides know who their candidates are and the independent/swing/uneducated voters don’t know who any of them are - except maybe McWherter. Doesn’t mean he can win, just means they know the name.

    If name recognition alone did the trick in Tennessee, Harold Ford Jr. would be a Senator, Steve Gill would be a Congressman, and Fred Thompson would have won the GOP primary here.

  3. Rob writes
    November 12th, 2009 7:40 pm

    Snuffy -

    Your critique of my “zero name recognition comment” is probably on target. My point of view is admittedly a bit parochial. Over here in VERY red Northeast Tennessee the Republican candidates all the time, but we’ve hardly seen hide or hair of the Dems. In addition, all three of the major Repub candidates are from this neck of the woods: Ramsey (Bristol), Wamp (Chattanooga), and Haslam (Knoxville). All of the Dem candidates are Middle and West … which makes sense, I suppose, since that’s where the Dems in this state ARE.

    Among the Dems running, Kim McMillan is the only one that’s spent a significant amount of time here, and while McWherter does indeed have more name recognition, she’s got more base support … at least here.

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