As primary season in Tennessee draws closer to an end, two of the three Republicans vying for the state's top job made laps through Chattanooga on Tuesday.
Gubernatorial candidate and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam's stop at the Double Tree Hotel saw a crowd of roughly 200 supporters come alive when Haslam, University of Tennessee at Knoxville men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl and U.S. House Rep. Jimmy Duncan, R-Knoxville, arrived in the Haslam tour bus 44 minutes late.
"In two days and two hours, the polls close. I'll be real blunt: Right now, if everybody votes for us who says they're going to vote for us, we'll win," Haslam told the crowd.
A July 21-23 poll, commissioned by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, other newspapers and WBIR-TV in Knoxville, agrees with Haslam concerning the Republican primary. The mayor is ahead with 36 percent, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp is in second place with 25 percent, and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey is in third with 20 percent, according to the poll.
Wamp, who held a campaign rally Tuesday at the same time as Haslam in his headquarters on Georgia Avenue, isn't giving up yet, though.
"These things don't go as the conventional wisdom dictates," the congressman said. "There's no question we have the momentum. We have to turn it up on voter contacts."
Wamp said a "major politico" in Nashville called him and said it's his camp that will be celebrating Thursday evening after the polls close.
"He said: The tide has completely turned. Haslam peaked on July 11 (and) you're going to peak on Aug. 5," Wamp said.
Both Haslam and Wamp have a similar plan as both their primary campaigns draw to a close: travel from county to county without stopping and bring prominent figures with you.
Pearl and Duncan joined Haslam on his Tuesday trip through several Tennessee cities, including Brentwood, Franklin, Gallatin, Hendersonville, Manchester, Maryville, Shelbyville and Chattanooga, said David Smith, Haslam's press secretary.
Today, the Knoxville native is scheduled to do a "statewide fly-around" through Chattanooga, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville and the Tri-cities area, Smith said.
On Monday and Tuesday, Wamp stuck mostly to East Tennessee, hitting eight counties there including Hamilton. Wamp said Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey joined him on his tour bus and that he finished Monday night with a "huge rally" in Knoxville.
The 15-year veteran House representative of the 3rd Congressional District said he will take his last-minute efforts today to Brentwood, Jackson, Murfreesboro, Nashville and Shelby County. Nashville country music star Ricky Skaggs will join him for part of the tour.
Times Free Press staff writer Kate Harrison contributed to this story.
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