I mean it's Tennessee. If Bredesen wins it was always going to be off cross ticket voters.
Tennessee has a lot of liberal areas believe it or not.
Out of all the "southern" states, Tennessee is one of the least "southern" acting. During the civil war it even had an interesting history of being half Confederate and half union supporting, with the west part of the state joining the Confederacy and the Eastern part joining the union for a time.
You Chattanooga, Memphis, Nashville, and I may throw in Knoxville in there as your populous liberal centers. Most southern states have maybe one city that is liberal and everything being a sea of red like with Atlanta.
This is all to say, bredensen has a very good shot. Rememeber he was the governor at one time and was well liked.