Chattanooga: Haslam announces gubernatorial run

A day after U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp threw his hat in the gubernatorial ring, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam stopped in Chattanooga on Tuesday to announce that he is running for governor in 2010.

“These are critical times facing our state,” Mr. Haslam told reporters at Stone Cup Roasting Co. on Frazier Avenue. “Many of our families throughout the state are facing critical issues.”

Mr. Haslam touted his executive experience as he made the case for why he should be governor. He cited education and business recruitment as top issues.

Rep. Wamp, a Republican from Chattanooga, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but he alluded to Mr. Haslam’s considerable personal wealth Monday.

“I’m probably going to be outspent,” Rep. Wamp said. “But I won’t be outworked.”

The Chattanooga congressman said he planned to file paperwork to begin raising funds immediately.

Mr. Haslam was president of the Pilot Corp. chain of travel centers and CEO of Saks Direct, the online arm of the Saks Fifth Avenue chain of department stores.

But spending his own money on his run is “not the best way to run a campaign,” he said, and he already has scheduled several fundraisers.

Rep. Wamp, Mr. Haslam and Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons will face off in the Aug. 5, 2010, Republican primary election. All three entered the race shortly after former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., announced he would not run.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, also has said he is interested in the governor’s office.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., and state Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, have said they are considering running. Only one Democrat, former state Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, has announced her candidacy.

Three successful businessmen also are taking a look.

“I’m very interested in this race and am seriously considering running,” said former Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Doug Horne, 63, a Knoxville developer whose firm operates in more than 20 states.

“It’s obviously going to be a high-dollar race,” Mr. Horne said. “Whoever runs is going to have to have to have a lot of contributions and some of their own money, and I do (have money).”

Mike McWherter, son of former Gov. Ned McWherter, said he has been “talking with some friends and some family about what my future options might be. I’ve expressed some interest there.”

Mr. McWherter, 52, said he wants to “make sure I have the resources in place” to run. But the chairman of Union City-based First State Bank and owner of two beer distributorships said he would be prepared to engage in some self-financing as well.

Also reportedly considering a bid is Nashville businessman Ward Cammack, a principal at Diversified Trust, an asset-management company, according to the Nashville Post, an online news site.

Mr. Horne said he hoped state Democratic leadership could meet and come up with “a consensus candidate, so to speak.

“Hopefully, they’ll think it might be me,” he said.

Democrat Harold Ford Jr. said Tuesday there is no reason the 2010 race needs to start now. The “last thing Tennesseans want is a long, drawn-out” governor’s race, Mr. Ford, 38, said by e-mail.

The former Memphis congressman, whose 2006 U.S. Senate race against Republican Bob Corker drew international attention, said he has been approached by “many people urging me to run for governor in 2010.”

But Mr. Ford said, “The 2010 campaign for governor will begin at some point, but now is not the time.”

Mr. Haslam said the length of the campaign — nearly two years until the Nov. 2, 2010, general election — will help him better understand the state and voters. Still, he said he does not believe the campaign will interfere with his job as mayor. It will simply mean “late nights and lost weekends,” he said.

Mr. Haslam was first elected mayor in 2003. His current term ends in 2011.

Rep. Wamp has said he plans to finish out his eighth term in Congress, which began this week. He said he does not believe the run for governor will hurt him in his last term in the House.

“This happens to people all the time in the U.S. House of Representatives,” he said. “I’m going to do my job in Washington over the next two years.”