TN-Gov: Karl Dean running, Mark Green out

[Adam Griffin]

If you look at several recent elections, the Democrats' biggest obstacle in TN isn't winning in the general election: it's nominating somebody who is a complete nobody/loser because they just so happen to be the first choice on the primary ballot (Mark Clayton, Charlie Brown, Gordon Ball). TN's Democratic primary voting bloc is very low-info, and when combined with either no runoff or a very low threshold for one (I forget which), results in a very high chance that a complete rando gets the nomination based on surname alone.

However, it's worth remembering that at the end of 2010, Democrats did have the Governorship and a majority of the US House seats. Maybe there's still a little bit of swing left there.

[Adam Griffin]

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That's quite a haul

Well, each of the two declared GOP candidates raised roughly that much or more (and are also independently wealthy), so it's good but not great.

For reference, Haslam raised $13.5 million (+$3.5 million of his own money) in 2010; Bredesen raised about $8 million (+$3 million of his own money) in 2002. Not sure if Dean's independently wealthy but probably anybody he faces will be, and TN has a history of wealthy candidates spending big to support their campaigns.