John Rose is stepping up his media buys in the Tennessee governor’s race and also drawing sharper distinctions between himself and Marsha Blackburn. His newest TV ad points out that Blackburn has been running for various offices for 34 years.
Rose notes that he has voted for her in the past. “We owe Marsha our thanks,” he says, “ but we don’t owe her the Governor’s office.”
Rose makes the point that like Trump, he’s a CEO and that Tennessee needs someone “Who’s run a business, not just run for office.”
Meanwhile, a new Rose internal poll shows him gaining ground on Blackburn both in terms of name recognition, where he was seriously behind at the outset of the campaign, and preference as voters become more aware of him and his background. The poll was conducted several weeks ago, before Rose’s latest heavy onslaught of TV, radio and mail kicked into high gear. The campaign believes that they clearly have developed momentum heading into the final weeks before early voting begins on July 17.
Some argue that the gap is still too wide for Rose to overcome, and he certainly has work to do, but votes late in the campaign shift like a “pick six” in football. A vote taken from your opponent and moved to your side is a two vote swing that can narrow the gap very quickly.
Blackburn is reportedly preparing her first ads and they should air soon.
