NASHVILLE - U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp went up statewide with his gubernatorial campaign's first TV ad today -- the last of three GOP candidates to do so.
The 30-second spot shows Wamp, shirtsleeves rolled up and tie slightly loosened, standing and talking against a backdrop of the construction of the new Volkswagen auto plant in Chattanooga that he helped recruit. It emphasizes the candidate's focus on creating "production jobs.
"There used to be an old military site here but I helped close it to pave the way for manufacturing," he says. "Now it's Volkswagen's new auto plant. Thousands of new jobs and growing small businesses. All part of the Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor we built in East Tennessee. My '20/20 Vision' is a blueprint to create production jobs like these all over our state. As your jobs governor, I'll be focused on your future. Together we'll build the most dynamic economy in America."
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The ad's reference to the site as an old military site refers to the Chattanooga property's former usage as a sprawling munitions plant that was closed down before the federal government gave the site to Chattanooga for redevelopment as one of TVA's certified "megasites" for industrial development. After a competition with dozens of other states and extensive negotiations that resulted in $577 million in federal, state and local tax incentives, Tennessee landed the $1 billion VW plant in 2008, and its scheduled to start production early next year, creating about 2,000 jobs.
The Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor is an alliance of community, business, education and government leaders that promotes technology-based economic development in a corridor extending from Huntsville, Ala., through East Tennessee and into southeastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia. Wamp was one of its creators in 1995, a year after he was first elected to Congress.
And the "20/20 Vision" is the candidate's campaign manifesto for jobs, education, health care and safe communities. It's available on his website at www.ZachWamp.com
In a press release today, Wamp takes a jab at both of his GOP opponents - Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and state Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville. "One of my opponents has a red umbrella, one has a boot, but I am the candidate with a detailed plan to make Tennessee an even better state and create the most dynamic economy in America," he said - references to the red umbrellas in the first of Haslam's three TV spots and the black boots that Ramsey promises in his only TV spot thus far to use to give Washington the boot.
Wamp's opponents gleefully point out that nowhere in the ad -- neither in its graphics nor in his narration -- does the candidate identify himself as a congressman.
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