NASHVILLE – The latest public polling indicates he’s behind, but Republican gubernatorial hopeful Zach Wamp argues “momentum” and supporters’ “intensity” favor him as the campaign moves toward the Aug. 5 primary.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that, in the last eight days, the momentum has been with my campaign,” the Chattanooga congressman said Tuesday as he and his campaign bus rolled through Nashville and surrounding counties.
He said the shift began after last week’s debate with his two GOP rivals, the widely acknowledged GOP frontrunner Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, as well as Democrat Mike McWherter.
“I just can’t tell you the scores of people who said the debate ‘was the defining moment for you,'” the congressman said in Lebanon’s town square, where supporters brandished a large “Zach Attack!” banner.
Mr. Haslam also campaigned in Middle Tennessee on Tuesday while Lt. Gov. Ramsey was in Hawkins County near his Northeast Tennessee state Senate district.
A poll released earlier this month by WSMV-TV in Nashville indicates Mr. Haslam leads 32 percent to 21 percent for Rep. Wamp and 11 percent for Lt. Gov. Ramsey. Thirty-six percent of voters said they remained undecided.
On Tuesday, Rep. Wamp also swung by the Lebanon Rotary Club, where he was warmly greeted by its president, Jon Shoulders, who said he decided to back the congressman after seeing the debate.
“I think obviously Mr. Wamp’s stand on his beliefs and wanting to follow and do the right thing really resonated with us,” said Mr. Shoulders, president of Friendship Christian School.
Mr. Shoulders said he senses a “genuineness” from Rep. Wamp when he touched on “his religious beliefs.”
Sixty miles away from Lebanon, Cumberland County Mayor Brock Hill and two other East Tennessee county mayors joined Mr. Haslam’s wife, Chrissy; their two daughters; and Mr. Haslam’s father, James Haslam II, in Cookeville.
Mr. Hill cited Mr. Haslam’s business experience with the Haslam family-owned Pilot Corp., noting that he “understands the concept real well of taking a dollar and trying to get more than a dollar’s value of out it.”
Speaking later before executives and employees of the Upper Cumberland Human Resources Agency, James Haslam II said, “Let’s get down to the bottom line of this election.
“If the biggest business in the state of Tennessee is the state of Tennessee itself, what do you want in your next governor?” asked James Haslam, whose company is now one of the top 10 privately held companies in the United States.
“I think it’s pretty easy,” he said. “You need a person who has met a payroll, who has balanced budgets and who has run a business. Bill is uniquely prepared for all of that.”
Rep. Wamp repeatedly has questioned Mr. Haslam’s actual executive experience at Pilot, where he served as president. He also has an ad attacking Pilot, which settled Tennessee charges of gas-gouging involving four of the company’s Pilot Travel Centers and convenience stores during Hurricane Ike in 2008. The company did not admit guilt.
James Haslam II said it was Bill Haslam and his older brother James Haslam III who had the vision to take Pilot beyond the convenience store business he created and transform it into a national chain of interstate travel centers.
“Bill was in charge of all of that development, getting locations, getting all of that stuff done,” his father said.
Mr. Haslam has defended the company against the price-gouging charges, noting there were four instances of higher prices being charged out of 1,500 fuel loads.