Politically, Tennessee is divided into three distinct parts: East Tennessee is solid GOP for over 100 years. Central Tennessee is Liberal Democrat (tremendous influence by the Nashville Tennessean newspaper.)
West Tennessee is Conservative democrat in the rural areas,Republican in the suburbs of Memphis/Shelby County, and ultra-liberal democrat (Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.)in the urban, inner-city of Memphis.
Therefore, the candidate with the best chance of winning is a moderate Republican from West Tennessee. This was the base from which Gov. Sundquist (who has now lost practically ALL support from Conservatives due to his insisting on raising taxes each year), Senator Thompson, and former Governor Lamar Alexander.
Harold Ford,Jr. may decide to run. He would have near 100%support from the Black voters across the state. But he turns off white voters due to his family's incredible scandals and borderline criminal activites. But the Fords have a tremendous political machine - the likes of which Mayor Daly would have admired.
Best hope of those who read FR: Ed Bryant. Second choice: Lamar Alexander (just to keep the seat).
Honest assessment: This is gonna be a war with no clear winner 'til the very end. You can be certain that Algore will use this to "reconnect" with "his people".
Best stick with Lamar. He's the safest candidate.
Ford is age 31, more than the 30 required to run for Senate, but he's only got major support in Memphis. He would have zero chance of winning a statewide seat.
Gore has already ruled out running for Thomspon's seat. He knows he lost the presidency due to his own state voting for the other guy. His popularity here hasn't improved any over the last year.
Lamar is a political has been, both realistically and by his choice. He'll never win another elected office.
Don Sundquist is almost universally reviled throughout the state, with the exception of those few who would benefit from an income tax. The mere mention of his name can launch an hours long diatribe with many in TN. If the Devil himself ran against Don Sundquist, the Devil would win it in a landslide. I cannot overstate how much hatred is directed toward this man by TN Republicans. And he deserves every bit of it. He campaigned in bad faith, promising voters one thing, then after the election he pulled off his mask and revealed himself to be the complete opposite of what he campaigned as. Left without any recourse to remove him from office, Tennesseans' hatred for the man has simmered and concentrated for over three years.
Thompson is a good man and a good conservative, hopelessly misguided and naive about campaign finance reform, but otherwise good. His career in politics is unlimited. He would make a very credible VP candidate in 2004 or a Supreme Court nominee. Since he was involved in prosecuting Nixon during Watergate, many Democrats probably feel sentimentally favorable toward him and would likely confirm his nomination.
Keep your eye on Ed Bryant. Without a doubt, he'll announce he's running for Thompson's seat. Whether he wins it or not is uncertain, but the Democrats won't have any better candidate.
I'll have more info from an inside source within minutes. I'll post what I know.