On the final day of campaigning in his 669-day-old race for governor, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is flying across the state today in a final appeal for votes to succeed outgoing Gov. Phil Bredesen, D-Tenn.
During a midday rally at the Big River Grille in Chattanooga, Haslam said even after two years of campaigning, he doesn't plan to take any time off this week if he is elected to Tennessee's top elected job on Tuesday.
"People have been asking me if I plan on taking a vacation after all of this, and the answer is no," Haslam said today. "We already have plans the next morning after the election if we win to get to work to hire a great team of people to help us work on the great big challenges we have ahead of us as a state."
The Haslam campaign has spent more than $16 million through the primary and general election campaigns, or more than five times as much as his Democratic rival -- Jackson, Tenn., businessman Mike McWherter.
Volunteers for Haslam in Hamilton County have made more than 20,000 local telephone calls since the August primary to encourage Republican and independent voters to cast ballots for Haslam, according to local volunteer coordinator Connie Weathers.
"I promise you that your labor has not been in vain," Haslam told his supporters today.
McWherter also is campaigning across the state, but the Democratic candidate doesn't plan any visits today in Southeast Tennessee.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a former Chattanooga mayor who is campaigning with Haslam across the state, joked that Haslam "just wanted to come back one final day to the greatest city in Tennessee."
Haslam praised Corker, but he stopped short of endorsing the Corker's Chattanooga preference.
"I won't go as far as Bob in saying this is the greatest city in the state," the Knoxville mayor said. "But I know a whole lot of people have worked to make this a great city."