By ERICK SCHELZIG
Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter is launching is first television ad on Monday emphasizing his jobs plan and promising to reject an income tax in Tennessee.
The ad starts with McWherter working on an all terrain vehicle. In an apparent allusion to the increasingly acrimonious GOP nomination fight, the narrator says: "Imagine a governor more interested in fixing things than playing politics."
McWherter, the son of former Gov. Ned McWherter, is the lone Democrat running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Bredesen.
The major Republican candidates are Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, state Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp. All three are currently airing ads attacking their rivals.
The McWherter ad is running on broadcast stations in the Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Knoxville and Tri-Cities markets, said spokesman Shelby White.
The spot hits on McWherter's rural upbringing and his business acumen. McWherter owns a beer distributorship in Jackson, and the ad shows him talking to an employee next to one of the company's trucks.
"He has a Tennessee First jobs plan that will cut taxes for business that create jobs here at home," the narrator says. "He'll veto any proposed income tax and cut wasteful spending.
"He won't just fix his four-wheeler, he'll fix our economy."
The ad concludes with McWherter speaking to the camera and calling on Tennesseans to "roll up our sleeves and get to work."