« Herron Back Again | Main | A Real Campaign Blog? »
September 18, 2009
Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam Visits SETPAC
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam was the guest speaker at last Friday's Southeast Tennessee Political Action Committee (SETPAC) luncheon. He spent part of the morning organizing his ground forces in neighboring Sequatchie County before arriving at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Chattanooga.
Haslam, who has spent years running a family business, noted his recent entry into politics by invoking a familiar name: he said he was riding bicycles on vacation with former Chattanooga Mayor (now U.S. Sen.) Bob Corker, who convinced him to leave his position as CEO of Pilot Oil and run for mayor of Knoxville. (He would go on to mention Sen. Corker at least two more times.)
He then described the preconditions that led to seeking higher office: being willing to commit to a 2-year additional full-time job, doing a feasibility check on whether winning is actually possible (because it involves many other people), and deciding that one is capable of responding to the specific challenges facing that office in the next term.
He outlined three major issues that will confront the next governor: a "massive" state budget problem, high unemployment, and the need to drastically improve the state's K-12 education.
After concluding his brief talk, Haslam took questions from SETPAC attendees. The audience asked him about healthcare, the state's new gun laws, how to improve education without spending more, gas prices, how he is different from the other GOP candidates, and how much money it will take to win this campaign.
I'll post detailed questions and answers as I get them transcribed from my notes.
See also: Judy Frank and Joy Lukachick.
TN Gubernatorial Elections | By joe lance | 12:12 PM