73% of Tennesseans can't name a single gubernatorial candidate

I think one thing that folks who are interested in politics at the state and local level often forget is that the large majority of people just don't follow politics as closely as we do:

Gov. Phil Bredesen remains popular, but almost three-quarters of Tennesseans surveyed couldn't name a single one of the candidates running to replace him, according to poll results released Wednesday by Middle Tennessee State University.

The poll also showed that President Barack Obama is losing support. For the first time since he took office in 2009, a majority of Tennesseans — 51 percent — said they disapprove of the Obama administration.

Some 73 percent of those surveyed couldn't name any of the candidates for governor from either party. One candidate, Jim Kyle, has dropped out since the poll was taken.

I guess that's sort of elitist, but whatever. I heard a variant of this story on WPLN this morning and they said that name recognition should increase as the race heats up in the summer and the campaigns start running more ads.