Bill Haslam On A Gubernatorial Primary With Bill Frist: “I Can’t See That Happening”

By Kleinheider Posted on June 16, 2008 at 10:02 am

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam traveled to Nashville on Saturday at the request of Tootie Haskins, Director at Large of the Davidson County Republican Party, to speak to before assembled Republicans at the Davidson County GOP’s Straw Poll and Picnic.

In an interview with Post Politics preceding his speech, the Knoxville Mayor reiterated that despite his visit with Republicans miles from home and his key role as chair of the Tennessee Republican Party’s annual Statesman’s dinner in July, he hasn’t made any firm decisions about running for Governor in 2010.

“It sounds like a political answer but it’s really not. I haven’t made a decision about what I want to do,” Haslam said.

Haslam would offer up to Post Politics that he would be unlikely to challenge former Senator Bill Frist were the former Senator to enter the race.

“If Senator Frist said he was going to run for Governor, in all likelihood, I would say I would be supporting him. I can’t envison a circumstance where [a Haslam/Frist primary] makes a lot of sense. I can’t see that happening,” Haslam stated.

Mayor Haslam, however, refused to continue the “what if” game when other potential candidates, such as Congressman Zach Wamp, were mentioned.

Like Senator Frist, Mayor Haslam doesn’t believe that the results of the 2008 state legislative races would affect his decision to run. Whether the Republicans keep control of the state Senate or capture the state House will not factor into his analysis.

“I don’t think that would be a determinant factor for me. My sense in state politics is if you waited to do something until all the factors got to be perfect you’d be waiting around a long time. So for me that wouldn’t be a big deal,” Haslam explained.

On the tactics of the Tennessee GOP and their penchant for making national news and drawing harsh rebukes from party leaders and both of Tennessee’s U.S. Senators, Haslam took the side of the moderates in the party.

“I would probably agree with both our senators, I’m not sure that was advisable,” Haslam said when speaking of the TNGOP’s February press release touting alleged antisemitic ties of Barack Obama. Haslam said he had not actually seen the subsequent Michelle Obama “Proud” video which also had the TNGOP being roundly criticized for their tactics but seemed to deferred to Senators Alexander and Corker on the issue.

As to what statewide issues truly animate the man and which might be highlighted in a Haslam Gubernatorial run, the mayor responded much like one would expect our current governor to answer, “Good government starts with a great budget, a budget that works with the financial resources you have, after that a Governor needs to be concerned with education issues, with job recruitment and economic development issues.”

As for the names floating around as potential Gubernatorial candidates on the Democratic side, Haslam refrained from handicapping the candidates or indicating a preference of opponent.

“In the end, I think there’s gonna be some qualified people who raise their hands to run and I don’t know that you look at that and say I’d like to run against him or her. I think you look out and say, whoever runs, you better be ready to make a serious effort where you’re ready to run hard.”

SEE ALSO:
A photo set from the Haslam visit.
Raw audio.

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Tags: 2010 Governor's race, Bill Frist, Bill Haslam, Lamar Alexander, TNGOP, Tootie Haskins, Zach Wamp