A lot of Tennesseans will be on hand as President Barack Obama visits Chattanooga on Tuesday, but the state’s top three GOP lawmakers will not be among them.
Gov. Bill Haslam and Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker will skip Obama's trip to an Amazon distribution center
, The Tennesssean reports.
The newspaper speculates Haslam may be dodging the event because "he might not want to get too close to the president if he's nurturing any national ambitions of his own." Likewise, Alexander and Corker may be staying away for political reasons.
Haslam's spokesman said the governor had previously booked a full day of appointments in the state's Upper Cumberland region.
In a statement, Alexander criticized Obama on his jobs records and on the Affordable Care Act, saying: "I'd like to hear the president explain to Tennessee employers how they're going to add new jobs and at the same time pay all the additional costs imposed by the president's healthcare law."
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