Why didn't Al Gore campaign for TN in 2000?

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

In hindsight it seems to me that Gore may have gotten too much criticism for not winning TN, despite it being his home state and Clinton winning there both times. Perhaps the state was simply moving rightwards/to the GOP at a faster level than anyone could have anticipated back then, and Gore did well in simply keeping it relatively close.

Clinton only won by 2% in 1996, despite his very comfortable national victory, and in the next three elections the Democrats lost the state by massive margins (14%, 15%, 20%).  

This is why I don’t think Gore winning the state against McCain is even close to a slam dunk. A ticket with no southerners losing badly nationally only lost the state by two points.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

In hindsight it seems to me that Gore may have gotten too much criticism for not winning TN, despite it being his home state and Clinton winning there both times. Perhaps the state was simply moving rightwards/to the GOP at a faster level than anyone could have anticipated back then, and Gore did well in simply keeping it relatively close.

Clinton only won by 2% in 1996, despite his very comfortable national victory, and in the next three elections the Democrats lost the state by massive margins (14%, 15%, 20%).  

This is why I don’t think Gore winning the state against McCain is even close to a slam dunk. A ticket with no southerners losing badly nationally only lost the state by two points.

I'm actually of the opinion that in a matchup against McCain, Gore would have had a better chance of winning Louisiana than Tennessee

Maybe...Louisiana had one of the biggest swings from '96 to '00 and that was largely because Bush Jr. was a much, much better fit for the state than Dole. With McCain as the nominee, there's not as much of a swing...