NASHVILLE - Republican and Democratic candidates for governor made common cause with each other Monday night and repeatedly attacked the contest's acknowledged front-runner, Republican Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, during a statewide televised debate Monday night.
With early voting in the Aug. 5 primary starting Friday, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville and Democratic businessman Mike McWherter unleashed a torrent of criticism during the hourlong debate at Belmont University in Nashville.
The other candidates, who were allowed at various points to pose direct questions to one another, sought to put the Knoxville mayor on the hot seat in areas ranging from his refusal to publicly divulge the extent of his holdings in the Haslam family-owned Pilot Corp., the truthfulness of his positions on Second Amendment gun issues and more.
Rep. Wamp, a Chattanoogan, bluntly accused Mr. Haslam of peddling false images of himself to Republican primary voters.
"There's so much propaganda with all of your money about creating a persona, a person, that is not the real Bill Haslam," the congressman pointedly told Mr. Haslam, who has dominated fundraising and advertising in the GOP primary. "And I'm going to stand on the truth, and you're not the guy that all of your money says you are."
Earlier, Rep. Wamp asked Mr. Haslam why he contributed money in 1988 to Democrat Al Gore's first presidential campaign. That prompted the mayor to note he had contributed to both Rep. Wamp and Lt. Gov. Ramsey and say he has supported any number of conservative candidates over the years.
"I actually think I have an incredible track record of investing in candidates who are strong conservative candidates," Mr. Haslam said.
He accused the congressman of filming a "negative" television ad against him after saying he would not do so. The congressman said he never said such a thing.
When it came time for Mr. McWherter to pose a question, he noted the mayor had raised taxes and said to Rep. Wamp, "I think that's outrageous and I want to know what you think about it."
As some audience members chuckled, the Chattanoogan charged Mr. Haslam "is the only one that chose not to turn over his tax returns or any of his financial information."
Mr. Haslam complained "that's a little bit of circumventing the rules" but went on to defend himself, saying he had disclosed more than the other candidates had in their previous contests. Moreover, the mayor said, "there's no secret where my income comes from."
As he made his final statement at the end of the debate, Mr. Haslam said democracy is a long and hard process, but the result is that it makes you a better leader when you're elected to office.
Lt. Gov. Ramsey, who is battling Rep. Wamp for conservative voters, sought to deliver a double-barreled blast to both men.
"We don't need to bring Congressman Wamp's Washington ways here to Nashville, the free spending that's going on there," Lt. Gov. Ramsey said. "Mayor Haslam is trying to buy the race by spending a lot of money. He wouldn't even be a legitimate candidate if it wasn't for the money that he's spending."
Earlier he took issue with Mr. Haslam's stances on guns, noting among other things that he had belonged to a national group headed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that has drawn the ire of gun-rights advocates. Mr. Haslam said he quit the group after it took a different direction.
A recent poll conducted for Nashville television station WSMV shows Mr. Haslam with a 32-21 percent lead over Mr. Wamp and a 21 point lead over Lt. Gov. Ramsey. But it also said 36 percent of voters were undecided.
The other candidates dispute aspects of the poll but acknowledge that Mr. Haslam, who dominates fundraising and television advertising, is in the lead.
Observers have said that if Mr. Haslam's rivals can't change the contest's current trajectory, Mr. Haslam is likely to win the Republican nomination.
The debate was televised in Chattanooga by WRCB-TV3.
There is another debate today on WTN-FM 99.7 Super Talk in Nashville from 10-11:30 a.m. EDT.