Following up yesterday's endorsement list which featured Shelby County Commisioner Sidney Chism, the Mike Padgett for Senate campaign is showing a bit of West Tennessee shake and bake action with the endorsement of Jackson's own State Senator Lowe Finney. "Mike Padgett has visited 86 of the 95 counties in this state, showing Tennesseans what the people of Knox County already know," Finney said. "That Mike is a public servant in the truest sense of the word - their concerns will be his mandate in the U.S. Senate.

"Mike has heard the people of rural Tennessee talk about the struggles they face, and he has responded with a sound, innovative roadmap to put prosperity again within their reach." For the East Tennessean Padgett to show these kinds of endorsements in West Tennessee is significant. In an a statewide primary with Bob Tuke, if Padgett can turn them out strong in his native East Tennessee and Chism and Finney can get out the African Americans of Memphis and the rural yellow dog whites of West Tennessee respectively, Padgett can concede Tuke's Middle Tennessee base and still come out golden.