Could Yarbro already be stagnating?

So we know that Jeff Yarbro - running for the state senate in the 21st district - had a great start, as I mentioned in a previous entry. He raised over $50,000 in one day and picked up a lot of press attention. However, recent developments may have put a damper on his campaign, perhaps even rendering it a quixotic endeavor.

First, the "establishment" has come out of the woodwork in support of the incumbent, Douglas Henry. Given that Henry has served in the Senate for around thirty years, it goes without saying that he's been able to make friends in high places. Gov. Bredesen will be hosting a fund-raising for Henry in early November. He's gotten statements of support from several members of the General Assembly and Nashville Metro Council as well. Granted, these statements don't mean anything by themselves, but they are indicative of the depth of his support from those already in government. Now, Yarbro has some big names on his side as well, but it remains to be seen who is actually going to be on Henry's campaign team. Given the man's contacts and experience you can expect him to put together a Class A group.

Second, Henry is independently wealthy. He can fund his own race if he wanted to. Money isn't an issue for his campaign, and he has indicated that he's willing to spend whatever it takes. Though Yarbro's early money pull was admirable, it has since stagnated. It's been over a week and to date he's only pulled in around $54,000. Much of the original money probably came from friends and family, meaning that he doesn't exactly have grassroots financial support from those in the 21st. That's to be expected, given his likely low-level name recognition.

Then there's the matter of his apparent campaign strategy. If his early statements are at all indicative of things to come, he might be taking a "gloves on" approach. Yarbro has said that the race isn't about Sen. Henry, but if he wants to win he's going to have to make it about Henry. Residents of the 21st aren't going to throw out Henry just for the sake of electing a younger state senator. I'm not saying that he should go into full throttle attack mode - that would probably alienate a lot of people who have habitually supported Henry. The "new blood" approach is a decent one, but it needs to be part of a larger narrative. Yarbro's campaign should look into Henry's more recent legislative record. What exactly has he done for the district lately? If you can make the argument that Henry hasn't been an effective legislator, you'd be able to not only to paint the incumbent as idle/useless, but that would also carry a tacit hit on his age. There a lot of avenues that Yarbro can take, but being overly deferential isn't one of them.