While I no longer live Tennessee, I have followed the TN-03 race closely. Thanks to the hard work of blogger, Joe Lance, and two of the campaigns conducting excellent blogger relations, I’ve managed to stay up to date.

I’ve been silent on this issue because I’m still undecided. It’s a 8-way race. By all accounts, there are only three or four top contenders, but this is bloody primary. If you like dirty politics, TN-03 is the race to follow.

District three encompasses a slice of East Tennessee, and the Democrats can barely get people to turn out for a pancake breakfast. The winner of the Republican primary will likely win the general.  This makes the August 1 primary even more tense.

And tense may be the best word to describe the race.

Swirling rumors, national TV appearances, fights over endorsements, presidential contender visits, and mud-slinging press releases. Folks, this is the stuff of political satire. Christopher Buckley couldn’t spin a better tale.

Today on Twitter, I joked with Joe Lance and Dan Lehr that I should write a novel based on the race or at least the screenplay for a telenovela. It’s that juicy.

Depending on who I talk to, a different person is in the lead. I’ve talked to people following the race in DC and people back in Chattanooga.

Robin Smith appears to be running a smart campaign. A little heavy on the attack releases, but not out of line for a tight race. I confess to loving the “Send Mrs. Smith to Washington” bumper stickers.

Were this election cycle normal, I believe she would be the clear front-runner. After all, she’s a former TNGOP chair, a conservative woman and has high name ID. Her campaign has done all the right things and gotten prominent endorsements from organizations that I respect.

But this is not a normal campaign year.

Van Irion captures the essence of a tea party candidate. I also like him. He capitalized brilliantly on his class-action lawsuit to sue Obamacare, and he has the favor of Ron Paul supporters. As I’ve said before, never underestimate Paul fans.

He leans a little too libertarian for me on several issues (i.e. Fair Tax), but I believe that either he or Smith would do a great job of representing the conservative values in district three.

Then there’s Chuck Fleischmann.

Granted, I’m a little bias against self-funding candidates. As a grassroots person, I naturally side with the underdog. I dislike it when candidates can flood the airwaves with TV commercials and essentially buy a seat in Congress (ahem, Corker). Since most people are apathetic until close to election day, they vote for the wealthy candidate since he or she is the only recognizable name on the ballot. This campaign trick has turned the Senate into a millionaires’ club.

I think that strategy captures everything that is wrong with American elections. Also applauding Bob Corker is one way to ensure that I won’t vote for you.

I’m also wary of any candidate who spends money on a TV ad in a congressional primary race in 2010, especially for a smaller district like TN-03 (small by comparison to many other districts in America). Again, I work in online politics, but the ROI on TV ads is just not worth it. I’ll be disappointed if the other candidates follow suit.

Interestingly, none of the three prominent candidates have used online ads or ad words. Coming off the heels of the Rick Perry victory in Texas, I find that extremely surprising. Perry only engaged in digital media and didn’t use traditional advertising. It’s troublesome that in 2010 they haven’t engaged online as thoroughly as they should. (Update: The Smith campaign informs that they do have online ads going, and it sounds like they’re going well.)

It is interesting that camp Fleischmann accuses Smith of having the support of “D.C. backers.” A former candidate for RNC chair is the campaign manager. Do you get anymore insider? Hello! Pot meet kettle. Also, would Huckabee have any clue who Chuck Fleischmann was without the Saltsman connection? That alone makes the endorsement ring false and come across as a personal favor.

However fishy that endorsement appears, I would warn Smith’s campaign from making too big of a deal out of it. They’re quick to flood inboxes with statements on endorsements. It comes across as whiny that she lost Huckabee when Smith has gotten numerous other ones.

Then there are questions about fundraising, but I haven’t had time to delve into FEC reports, so I can’t comment.

However, all of those issues are insider politics. The average voter is not following campaign drama.

Given the bloodbath between Smith and Fleischmann (read Chattanoogan’s opinion section for a taste), voters may be turned off by all of the negativity. Also, with the high animosity towards incumbents and “establishment” candidates, voters may turn out support for Irion. Never come between a ballot box and a Ron Paul supporter.

A primary like this will come down to who has the best get out the vote operation. Primaries typically  have low voter turnout, and this race is dominated by one political party, giving independents very little reason to cast a ballot. Since I’m not on the ground, and I’m far from being a campaign insider for any of the candidates, I can’t predict the answer.

During CPAC, I had the privilege of meeting Patricia Sullivan, a strong conservative woman running for Alan Grayson’s seat in Florida.

Yes, that Alan Grayson.

Mrs. Sullivan is exactly the type of woman that I’m always hoping will run for office. She’s a staunch conservative, a Christian and a homeschooling mother of four.

Calling herself a “defending mother,” Mrs. Sullivan said, “We need conservative women in congress who can multitask with common sense. We need watchmen to say no. Moms are good at saying no.”

If the treatment of Jim Bunning is any sign, we definitely need more men and women who can say no in Congress.

Going into 2010, it’s exciting to see a groundswell of grassroots candidates running. They’re distinctly different than the typical people who run for office. After working in DC for a number of years now, it is almost strange to encounter them. While talking with Mrs. Sullivan, I asked how fundraising was going. She replied that, “DC people always ask about fundraising, but is that the most important thing?”

I had to admit that I was taken aback. As hard as I try to stay un-Beltway, it creeps into your soul. That’s another reason why we need more candidates like Mrs. Sullivan. Even people who purposely try to avoid becoming part of the system end up doing so.

As we chatted, Mrs. Sullivan shared that she had made the decision to run only dif her entire family was on board. After discussing it, her 14-year-old son was reluctant. They decided to take additional time for consideration, and the son went on a missions trip. When he returned, he started reading a book that a friend had recommended. By that time, the family was once again sitting down to decide if an election was in their future.

Mrs. Sullivan shared that the book completely changed her son’s outlook. After praying about it, he knew that it wasn’t right for his mom to miss this opportunity if God was opening the door. She started to tear up while telling me this.

As I sat on Blogger’s Row typing, Mrs. Sullivan’s story took on a personal turn. I asked what the book was. I’ve worked with teen boys. Not many books change their lives.

“In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day,” she replied.

My jaw dropped, and I stopped talking. In shock, I looked up and said, “My pastor wrote that book!”

Surprised, she asked a few details about it. I told her that I attend National Community Church and Pastor Mark Batterson wrote that book several years ago.

The interview went from talking about her race to sharing how much this book had influenced her son. I told her a little about NCC and promised to share the story with Pastor Mark. She was excited and said something that only Believers can understand, “It wasn’t a coincidence that God brought us here to talk about the race.”

That evening, I excitedly got to church. As a hospitality co-leader, it is my job to make sure that everyone is welcome and has bulletins, chairs set up, information available and tithe collected. I serve on the team that makes sure that the service goes smoothly, and I love it. Working in the background to make sure that everything gets done has always been my major gift.

Normally, the evening flies by, and I’m running like crazy. (Church also doubles as a cardio session for me.) Normally, I don’t get a chance to talk to Pastor Mark except to wave and say hi. That Saturday, he walked up while I was discussing something with Pastor Ross, the campus pastor at Ebenezer’s. I seized the opportunity to share the afternoon’s experiences with him and saw him light up with the story that his book had helped a 14-year-old boy. He asked for the family’s information so that he could follow up.

To be perfectly clear, NCC stays apolitical. As a church that meets on Capitol Hill, you have to. I may be a staunch conservative, but I do believe that Democrats can be godly Christians. I know Democrats who are better Christians than many Republicans.*  Pastor Mark and the church leadership do an amazing job staying above the fray on political issues. NCC is a refreshing escape from the polarizing and often depressing issues we deal with each day. (I’m not sure what I would do if my church were political. I need a break from it all.) He was excited to hear that his book had helped a 14-year-old boy, not that In a Pit is influencing conservative politics (although both sides could probably benefit from reading his books).

I write this to 1) highlight an awesome candidate like Mrs. Sullivan. 2) encourage other women to run for office and 3) share how God orchestrates strange meetings. Out of the 10,000 people at CPAC, what are the odds that Mrs. Sullivan would meet someone who knew the author of the book that helped her decide to run for public office?

Take a few minutes to learn more about Patricia Sullivan. We need more people like her in Congress. Moe Lane at Red State did an interview with her during CPAC.

Also Smart Girl Nation interviewed Mrs. Sullivan last year.

*Sometimes I wonder what the New Testament would have looked like if Jesus had come to DC and not Israel. Hypocrisy and evil exist on both sides of the political aisle. Political systems are designed by humans and are therefore imperfect, but I do believe capitalism and democracy are the best systems that help the most people at once.)

Update: Due to the snow, the event has been postponed. I’ll watch for Joe Lance and Chattarati to announce the new date and post and update.

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.