Monday, November 1, 2010
Politics McWherter Claims Momentum as Reporters Blink Quizzically
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 3:36 PM
At one stop, McWherter had the audacity to hint that Haslam has a secret plan like Don Sundquist to try to ram a state income tax down our throats. (Would that be sort of like what your daddy Ned did, Mike?) At his campaign headquarters near the Capitol a few minutes ago, he claimed Big Mo's on his side. Where did he get that idea? Well, it turns out that two or three people have walked up to McWherter on the street and told him they voted for him. Who needs polls when you can feel the pulse of the people? At least he didn't say the only poll that counts is on election day. The Q&A follows:
Q: Are there any regrets about the campaign? Anything you could have done or should have done to elevate your chances here?
McWherter: I don’t think there’s any question that it would have been better if we had had several million more dollars in this campaign. But I don’t feel bad about that because I think we’ve been able to get our message out. And we’ve spent an adequate amount of money to be able to do that and I think we’ve peaked at just the right now. Now the question is, did we peak high enough in order to win the race. … That had been our plan all along was to peak around the first week of October, and that’s what happened. I think Bill Haslam peaked back in September. And I think he’s been fighting erosion among his own supporters since that time.
Q: Haslam’s Republican opponents hit him on the same thing and it didn’t stop him. So why would warmed-over charges about price-gouging help you when it didn’t help Zach Wamp or Ron Ramsey back in August?
McWherter: Because I think I’m a better candidate than they are. I think I have a much broader appeal to working-class people in this state.
Q: You’re down 29 points in the latest poll. How can you possibly win?
McWherter: You know, I don’t know what the dates were on those polls but clearly when you have people who are stopping you on the street to talk to you saying, ‘I voted for you yesterday.’ … Frankly, I think [the polls] may be counter-reactive for Bill Haslam’s supporters. It may cause some of his supporters to stay home.
Update: Haslam in Chattanooga.
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