Clippard takes self out of 2006 governor’s race

Clippard and his employer, Lexington-based FirstBank, jointly announced in April that he was taking a leave of absence to consider whether to run against incumbent Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen.

“My wife and I have come to the conclusion that to defeat an incumbent governor, it’s going to take a bold campaign approach,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “This would have a tendency to tear down relationships we’ve built up in West, Middle and East Tennessee. I’m not willing to do that.”

Clippard, the bank’s chief development officer, will return to the job Friday.

He said he has no idea who might oppose Bredesen.

“You hear rumors, but I don’t think there’s anybody ready to jump in there,” Clippard said. “But maybe they’ve been waiting on me. Who knows what will happen.”

Jim Ayers, FirstBank chairman, said Clippard is “critically important to FirstBank for a number of reasons, and we are glad to have him back.”

Clippard is well-known among state Republicans and was a top fundraiser for President Bush in 2004. But he has never sought statewide office and isn’t widely known outside the party.

Bredesen, who narrowly won office in 2002, had an approval rating of 62 percent in February, according to a Middle Tennessee State University poll. That same survey showed a majority disapproved of Bredesen’s plan to cut 323,000 adults from TennCare, the state’s $8.7 billion expanded Medicaid program.