Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson is betting that a series of upcoming fundraisers will provide the money he needs to pay for a final media campaign.
Yesterday, Bryson announced that Senator Lamar Alexander, former Senator Fred Thompson and NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip will attend fundraising events in Nashville, Memphis, and Franklin over the next two weeks. Bryson spokesman Lance Frizell says the events will be key to funding the campaign’s final push.
“You want to have the funds you need to finish out strong, everything you need to put out the good get-out-the-vote effort, a full advertising effort, and all the things that entails.”
Because he was a state senator when he entered the race this winter, Bryson was not able to begin fundraising until the legislative session ended in June. Since then, he has lagged behind the governor in terms of dollars raised. In campaign disclosures filed yesterday, Bryson reported raising less than half as much in the last 68-day period as his Democratic opponent, Governor Phil Bredesen.
To date, Bryson has only run one television advertisement, and that was on the air for just nine days at the end of last month. In contrast, Bredesen has run ads continually since September 9th.
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