From knoxnews.com:

National partisan groups are poised to spend more than $1 million this year to influence Tennessee state House and Senate campaigns involving people like Republican Dennis Powers and Democrat Keith Clotfelter.

That is a lot of money for the two Jacksboro men who say they are friends and neighbors, despite differing political philosophies. They also say the national political picture, if not national money, is a factor in their campaign. The race is one of perhaps a dozen this fall key to deciding which party controls the state House.

Powers, who runs an insurance agency, had a campaign account balance of $935 at last report, filed shortly before he defeated incumbent Rep. Chad Faulkner of Luttrell to win the Republican nomination in the 36th House District.

Clotfelter, a businessman who has been involved in manufactured housing sales and construction, had a cash-on-hand balance of $4,179 in the report filed shortly before he won a three-way race for the Democratic nomination to the seat covering Campbell and Union counties of East Tennessee.

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