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Big Names, Big Money in TN

Bubba was in town for Harold Ford, Jr. yesterday:

"You know what it will mean if Harold gets elected on Tuesday," Clinton said. "It won't mean what all those columnists and commentators say. It won't mean that it's a victory of race; it will be a victory of going beyond race."

Meanwhile, Corker wrote a last minute check for $1.35 million to his campaign. This pushes Corker's total investment in the race past the $2 million mark and triggers the "millionaire clause" allowing Ford to increase the amount he can get from personal contributions to $12,600 per person. But, as was widely expected, Corker's strategy of waiting to the last possible minute makes it unlikely Ford will be able to take advantage of the clause to come anywhere near matching Corker's cash nfusion.

The Commerical Appeal reports that outside groups have spent $10 million on the TN Senate race so far. Together with the $21 million spent by the campaigns, that makes TN the fourth most expensive Senate race in the country this year.

With the addition of the Reuters/Zogby poll from yesterday, Corker has established a bit of control in this race and now holds a 5.0% lead in the RCP Average. Because of this, we've moved TN from being a Toss Up into the Lean GOP category.

Incidentally, we've also moved the New Jersey Senate race out of the Toss Up category and into the "Lean Dem" column. Bob Menendez has extended his lead in the RealClearPolitics Average to more than 7 percent.