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August 8, 2008
Turnout will do it every time
A source close to the Jim Vincent campaign told TennesseeTicket today that the candidate spent much of the day on Thursday in Rhea County, and was cautiously optimistic about his chances of winning back the District 31 seat until the numbers started coming in that evening.
Voters were out in force, relatively speaking, in Dayton and other Rhea locales; but Hamilton County suffered a weaker showing, and that is what likely cost Vincent the victory. The media had sometimes portrayed this as a territorial match, though the areas bound by the district lines are geographically and culturally similar irrespective of the county line.
I offered some unsolicited strategic advice to take back to the campaign: when U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp runs for Governor in 2010, state Sen. Bo Watson could then run for Congress, which would open up the District 11 Senate seat if Vincent wanted to try again at state politics.
State House Elections | By joe lance | 7:32 PM