Woods on the Phil Bredesen Legacy Tour: In our interview, he expressed admiration for "the discipline of living within your means" and took a Darwinian view of budgeting and governing.

"Forcing you to confront some of these issues of what things are worth doing, what things are not worth doing, is an important thing to do," Bredesen says. "It's kind of, you know, the extra cold winter is what kills off the weak animals. ... I believe in low taxes. I think it's a good positioning for the state. I really believe we're going to be able to do what we need to do in the years ahead" without raising taxes.