With Zach Wamp running for governor this year, the race for the TN-03 Congressional seat is heating up.

Tomorrow, all of the GOP candidates will face-off at the LiberTea Debate at Woodland Park Baptist Church at 2 p.m. A candidate forum will immediately follow from 4-5 p.m.

My friends over at Chattarati will be covering the event live, so if you’re stuck in the snow, tune into Chattarati.com to watch the debate with all of the GOP candidates.

The district has gotten more conservative since Wamp took office, so the primary victor is likely to win the general election in November. Local debates like this are critical.

With a six-way race, victory will boil down to name recognition and get out the vote efforts. Since turnout is generally low for primaries, the candidate with the strongest grassroots effort will probably win.

Robin Smith has the best name ID through her work with the TN GOP. Active Republicans, the most likely primary voters, are used to getting emails from her.

The other day, I noticed Van Irion‘s Facebook page. I think he’s made the critical mistake of running with “Vote for Van” as a slogan. In East Tennessee, “Van” generally refers to Van Hilleary, who caused a nasty three-way primary in the 2006 Senate race and keeps losing whenever he runs. If you’re an emerging politician, it’s best not to be associated with the guy who always loses.

To be honest, I’m not that familiar with the other candidates–Art Rhodes, Tommy Crangle, Tim Gobble, and Chuck Fleischmann. Of all the candidates, Robin Smith’s campaign has been the only one to proactively reach out to me as a blogger. I’m more familiar with her since I’m on her email list and met her at the Hamilton County Tea Party last April 15. I believe that I also met Tommy Crangle at an event that I spoke at last year.

The GOP has the upper-hand in this election even without the current national anger directed towards Democrats. Since the seat is solidly R, TN-03 voters need to make sure that we elect a strong conservative.