Jeb Bush names Frist, three Chattanoogans for TN presidential delegate slate

NASHVILLE -- Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the state's current and former top jobs recruiter and three Chattanoogans are among Republicans on GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush's Tennessee delegate slate.

In a Bush campaign news release today, Frist, who is running as an at-large delegate, said "Jeb has the most serious policy agenda in the field and will make a great president."

The Bush campaign, meanwhile, is boasting that Bush is the first GOP campaign to organize a full delegate slate in Tennessee for the March 1 presidential primary.

Delegates run either by Congressional District or at-large.

Third Congressional delegates from Chattanooga are business and civic leader Jim Frierson, CBL & Asssociates Properties Vice President Michael Lebovitz and Hayes Ledford, a former Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce vice president and one-time top aide to state House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga.

Other delegates includes Bill Hagerty, former Tennessee commissioner of economic and community development, who is running as a 5th Congressional District delegate, and Randy Boyd, who replaced Hagerty as the state's top jobs recruiter. Boyd is running as an at-large delegate.

Hagerty said Bush's economic positions and "proven record of implementing conservative reforms" are what drew him to the campaign.

Steve Smith of Nashville, a major GOP fundraiser, is another at-large delegate.

Tom Ingram of Tennessee, a senior advisor to the Bush campaign, said "organizing a presidential campaign in Tennessee is tougher than in some other places, and this shows enthusiasm and momentum for Jeb Bush in one of the important 'SEC primary' states."