Warren ponders bid against Bone

November 18, 2005
Having recently taken a poll in an effort to gauge his chances in either a state or county race, Lebanon real estate executive and one-time state Senate candidate Phillip Warren is apparently eyeing a political comeback.
Warren, who is a past chairman of the Wilson County Republican Party, confirmed Thursday he had polled the area to explore running against incumbent Wilson County Mayor Robert Dedman or 46th District State Rep. Stratton Bone.
And though he declined to provide The Lebanon Democrat with polling results, Warren repeatedly referred to the numbers as "encouraging" during an interview Thursday.
"I've had a lot of encouragement from a lot of people to run, and I felt like it was my obligation to explore it as fully as I could," Warren said. "… It (polling) was for my benefit and, if we do decide to run for something, it would be a more public thing."
Warren declined to comment on whether he felt the polling results were related to name recognition gained during his 1998 bid for State Senate, noting, "we looked at a lot of things."
Warren's first bid for public office came seven years ago when he took on then-State Sen. Robert Rochelle in what was arguably the most-watched state race during Tennessee's 1998 election season.
Combined, both candidates in the heated race spent close to $1 million, a fund-raising record for a legislative race at that time.
Rochelle went on to win the race with 58 percent of the vote in the state's 17th Senatorial District. In the candidates' home county of Wilson, Rochelle defeated Warren by roughly 1,630 votes.
In the days since Dedman announced he would seek another term as county mayor, Warren has not ruled out a bid for the office. Now apparently eyeing a bid for the Tennessee General Assembly as well, Warren said he expects to make a decision regarding his political future prior to year's end.
"I need to look into this seriously. Wilson County is growing and needs to move forward," Warren said. "I think we could do a lot of things for Wilson County."
Staff Writer Brian Harville can be reached at 444-3952 ext. 16 or by e-mail at brian.harville@lebanondemocrat.com.