Greetings from Tennessee

Tonight all eyes will be focused on my home state of Tennessee, where the debate will take place at Belmont University. While I’m not a native of this state – I was born in New Jersey, moved to Virginia as a child, went to grad school in Illinois and live here permanently – I can say a fair amount about the great Volunteer State.

First of all, Tennessee is divided into three distinctive regions. Tennessee is a VERRRY LOOONG state at about 500 miles east to west (and only about 120 miles north to south). The mountainous region in the East bears little resemblance to the Mississippi River bottomlands near Memphis.

It’s even in our state constitution that we apportion judicial appointments based on the three “Grand Divisions” of the state: East, Middle and West. Our state flag has three stars on it, each representing one of the three regions.

I live in East Tennessee, which is defined by the Appalachian Mountain chain. Within Appalachia are the Smoky Mountains on the east, the Tennessee Valley in the middle and the Cumberland Mountains in the west. By eastern standards, the Smokies are gigantic, reaching 6,643 feet at Clingman’s Dome. As some of the oldest mountains in the world, the Appalachians are much lower than the Rockies or the Alps. But they are rich in biodiversity; the Smokies are actually a rainforest climate with some of the richest diversity of plant and animal life on earth. Most of the population of East Tennessee lives in the Tennessee Valley, which itself is divided by several smaller ridges. Knoxville is the largest city in East Tennessee, though Chattanooga comes in a close second. Further to the northeast are the Tri-Cities of Johnson City, Bristol and Kingsport. To the west of these cities lay the more rugged Cumberland Mountains, stretching from Cumberland Gap (where TN, VA and KY all meet) to Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. Just beyond the coal-rich Cumberland Mountains is the Cumberland Plateau, a hilly plateau filled with beautiful horse farms and stunning rock formations more like those found in Utah.

Historically, East Tennessee has been the most Republican part of the state. But this is NOT because it’s the most conservative. Rather, it’s because the vast majority of East Tennesseans supported the Union during the Civil War. In the decades that followed, the entire South turned to the Democratic Party while East Tennessee remained loyal to the Republicans. There have always been pockets of Democratic strength in East Tennessee, and the Democratic Party is much stronger here now than 30 years ago, but it is still a Republican stronghold.

Beyond the Cumberland Plateau is the Highland Rim and the Nashville Basin, which defines Middle Tennessee. This has always been the wealthiest part of the state. It is also the most politically-fickle, traditionally Democratic but now solidly-Republican in some suburbs. Williamson County, where many country music stars live, is the most Republican county in the state (even though most country music stars are as avowedly-Democratic as Hollywood stars; Toby Keith, Merle Haggard, Ralph Stanley, Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley are just some of the high-profile country artists that back Obama).

As the Tennessee River shoots back up out of Alabama, it defines the boundary between Middle and West Tennessee. The western part of the state is flatter and has fewer towns. It was defined by larger cotton plantations in the Old South and agribusiness today. It is the most African-American part of the state, with Memphis as its largest city. It is also the most Democratic part of the state, although the East Memphis suburbs are strongly Republican. If there are still rural, white Southern yellow Democrats out there, however, they are found in the rural counties of northwest Tennessee.

Tennessee is one of the most beautiful states in the Union. It is also one of the most culturally rich, giving to the nation rock-and-roll, blues, bluegrass, country and soul music.

The debate tonight is at Belmont University, which is a Southern Baptist college with a very conservative reputation. I’d assume, however, that the audience participating in the debate will be drawn from the wider population and not just Belmont. Nevertheless, it is one of several colleges and universities in the Nashville area.

I just wanted to put out a big hello from our state to the world before tonight’s debate!