Potential primary opponents lining up to challenge Fleischmann

Sixteen months after being narrowly defeated by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann in the 3rd District Republican Primary, Robin Smith found herself in the nation's capitol, on "business."

Smith, a health care consultant and former chair of the Tennessee Republican Party, said she traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier this month to participate in meetings related to her work. But while she was in town, Smith didn't shy away from meeting with "individuals, encouragers, and donors" to discuss the possibility of forming another run for Congress in 2012. 

"We tried to answer the question: Is there a path to win this election?" Smith said, declining to identify who the discussions took place with. "There's a lot of optimism with some folks, because there's a lot of discouragement with the current candidates—including the incumbent. Before the end of the month, I've decided I will make a decision, because it's necessary for both myself and for others who will choose to run."

Smith is not the only person mulling over a jump into the race, which already includes two candidates—Weston Wamp and Dr. Jean Howard-Hill.

J.B. Bennett, a Chattanooga attorney, and Maj. Savas Kyriakidis, a U.S. Army Command Judge and co-owner of The Acropolis Grill, have both publicly acknowledged exploring the formation of campaigns.

While efforts by Nooga.com to reach Kyriakidis were unsuccessful, Bennett, whose father currently serves as Chattanooga's property assessor, said he has not set a deadline for making a decision. Since distributing a letter to colleagues announcing his consideration of a run in late October, Bennett said he has received positive feedback.

"I'm receiving a lot of strong encouragement from a lot of people who I have respected for a long time," Bennett said. "I thought that I owed it to them and to myself to consider the race seriously. A lot of what I'm hearing is the need for more effective leadership, both now and in the future, so I'm looking at it seriously—but I'm still in the decision-making process."

The up-and-comers will have many hurdles to jump should they enter the race. The lines of redistricting are yet to be finalized, fundraising efforts by both Fleischmann and declared candidates are well underway, and with every new candidate added to the primary ticket, the increased competition for votes between challengers threatens to strengthen the advantages Fleischmann enjoys as the incumbent.

"It's a consideration," Smith said, when asked if she thought adding more names to the primary would lessen her chances of a victory. "But I've been surprised that since others have entered the race, the encouragement I've received has intensified. One of the reasons I scheduled the appointments in Washington is that the extent of challengers against the incumbent caught these people so off-guard."

Dr. Richard Wilson, professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said the number of candidates lining up to oppose Fleischmann had nothing to do with dissatisfaction of how conservative the congressman was, but was instead a reflection of how partisan-driven American politics have become.

"Anyone who votes 95 percent of the time with the Republican Speaker of the House is conservative enough, and anyone who is casting a ballot on every single vote is working hard," Wilson said. "The problem is, our nation has allowed partisan gerrymandering to go on for so long that we have forced politics into an extremist mode. Once these people are elected, they are determined to never compromise with anyone. We get extremist rhetoric and complete gridlock, and it's extremists who are given a voice in the primaries."

When asked to comment on the upcoming race, Jordan Powell, Fleischmann's press secretary, said the time for politics would come "later next year." But in an interview with Nooga.com last week, Fleischmann, who won an intense 11-person primary battle in 2010, said he expects 3rd District voters to affirm his performance as a representative when voting day rolls around. 

"I am very, very pleased with what I've been able to accomplish," Fleischmann said. "I'm not thinking of myself as a candidate, I'm thinking of myself as a representative. I think the elections will take care of themselves, because the people in the 3rd District are smart people, and will be able to recognize someone who is listening to them and working hard for them."

Tennessee's 3rd District primary elections will be held on Aug. 2, 2012.