The Chattanooga Politico, July 4

Weekly review of political stories in Chattanooga and beyond.

Gubernatorial freakonomics

Several 2010 gubernatorial candidates released their fundraising totals this week. GOP contenders raised quite a bit of money, especially considering that we’re still a year away from the primary.

Here’s a breakdown of the heavy-hitters as of June 30:

• Bill Haslam: $3.8 million
• Ron Ramsey: $1.3 million
• Zach Wamp: $1.2 million
• Bill Gibbons: $415,000

Ron Ramsey was in session with the General Assembly, and didn’t start accepting contributions until June 19.
Ken Whitehouse:

What will be interesting to see is how much of that money was raised from political action committees. As a sitting lieutenant governor, Ramsey will have a clear advantage over rivals in this realm of the fund-raising world.

Wamp was in trouble if he couldn’t break $1 million. And I talked to one local Republican who suggested he should bow out of the governor’s race, and hold on to his Congressional seat. Fundraising doesn’t guarantee that a candidate will win a particular race, but it is a good indication of how much support a particular person has with his/her political base. 

Robin Smith and the GOP Lock?

Robin Smith joined an already crowded Republican field vying for the 3rd District nomination on Wednesday. Reception to her candidacy has been…uhm…interesting. Clay Bennett ran this cartoon one day after the announcement. And Christopher Bateman has a fairly scathing post on the Vanity Fair blog:

Smith was the head of the Tennessee Republican Party during the ‘08 presidential campaign and approved the distribution of some of the most underhanded and insidious anti-Obama propaganda to appear during the election.
[...]
One thing’s for sure: her opponents better be ready for a nasty, nasty campaign.

Regardless of who gets the GOP nomination, Mike Willingham thinks the seat is a lock for Republicans, writing: ”there is no way a Democrat is going to win the 3rd district.” I tend to agree with him, but if anyone from the left wants to try and convince me otherwise, I’m all ears.

Well, that happened

Chattarati celebrated its 1-year anniversary this week. My own involvement with the site began as a casual, entertainment contributor. That role somehow morphed into writing (almost) daily about city government, as well as sharing editorial responsibilities with John.

We never predicted how successful this site would become, but we’re thankful for all the support the community has given us. Thanks for reading.