Tennessee elections mostly lacking in drama

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Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam was all smiles as he came bounding off the campaign bus Friday, surrounded by a bevy of GOP stars getting ready to rumble with Democrats over a very tight race on Tuesday's ballot.

Only this cavalcade, in the waning hours of Election 2014, wasn't in Tennessee. Not even close. Try Kansas, where Haslam and fellow Republicans like Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey had flocked to help GOP Gov. Sam Brownback in his tight race with Democrat Paul Davis.

That says everything about this year's governor's race in Tennessee, where Haslam faces a little-known retiree, Charles V. "Charlie" Brown, who's spent just $50 on his entire campaign.

In fact, it says a lot about many contests on Tuesday's ballot. Tennessee Democrats have been largely unable to get up from the mat where they were firmly pinned by the GOP when Democrat Barack Obama was first elected president six years ago.

Outside four proposed constitutional amendments, including questions on abortion, judge elections and a state income tax, most contests are snoozers. The exception is the 4th Congressional District contest between Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais and Democrat Lenda Sherrell.

Toss in some isolated state legislative races and 78 local referendums on wine sales in grocery stores and that's mostly it in this Republican-dominated state, where many contests for public office these days are decided in the August primaries.

"My sense is there's very little to get excited about," said Dr. Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Tennessee's early voting, which ended Thursday, appear to support that. A total of 629,485 Tennesseans cast early ballots. That's 14.6 percent fewer than the 2010 mid-term, when the state's Division of Elections says 736,885 voted early.

"The most exciting thing I've seen is Lenda Sherrell's campaign," Oppenheimer said. "I don't think she's going to win, but she's showing you can go out and be a decent candidate."

DesJarlais, a South Pittsburg physician, eked out a 38-vote win in his August primary battle with state Sen. Jim Tracy. That came as the tea party-favored congressman was slammed yet again with details from his messy 2001 divorce showing he slept with at least two patients, pressured one to get a divorce and mutually agreed with his first wife's decision to obtain two abortions.

Sherrell, a retired accountant from Monteagle who has outraised and outspent DesJarlais, has played up issues of trust, honesty and how "actions speak louder than words."

DesJarlais, meanwhile, has slammed Sherrell as "Liberal Lenda" and hit her work as a volunteer in Organize for Action, which supports any number of Obama's initiatives.

The 4th District includes most of the counties near or surrounding Hamilton County, a list that includes Marion, Rhea, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Meigs, part of Bradley and Grundy counties. Running as an independent in the contest is Robert Rankin Doggart.

In other contests:

In the U.S. Senate race, several polls show two-term Republican incumbent Lamar Alexander favored over Democratic challenger Gordon Ball.

Alexander has heavily outspent Ball and has sought to paint the Knoxville attorney as "another vote for Obama." Ball, meanwhile, has tried to portray Alexander as part of the problem in Washington.

Compared with other contests, the 3rd Congressional District contest between U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Democrat Mary Headrick has been downright peaceful.

While Fleischmann narrowly edged Weston Wamp in the primary, the 3rd District, which includes Hamilton County, is rated as safely Republican seat by most national handicappers like the Cook Political Report.

Amendment 1 has social conservatives and many churches battling with supporters of abortion rights, with most of latter's funding coming from Planned Parenthood organizations from across the country.

The amendment would allow state lawmakers to regulate abortions in the state, which proponents say would protect women. Critics say it would let lawmakers impose barriers to abortion and point out it makes no exceptions for rape, incest and the life of a mother.

Amendment 2 would largely enshrine current law and allow the governor to appoint the five state Supreme Court justices and 24 appellate judges with confirmation from the state Legislature.

Amendment 3 would permanently ban a state income tax and Amendment 4 would allow veterans' groups to hold once-a-year gambling fundraisers such as raffles.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

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