Past and present Senate candidates from Tennessee: on Principles & Values

Phil Bredesen: 1960s scholarship to Harvard; millionaire businessman at 43

Getting into Harvard University on scholarship in the early 1960s, Bredesen earned an undergraduate degree in physics. He later worked for several companies, married and then divorced.

He then met Andrea Conte, a nurse. The couple married, then moved to Nashville in 1975 when Conte was recruited to work for HCA, the Nashville-based hospital company. After arriving, Bredesen focused on creating his own company, HealthAmerica Corp., an insurance company.

When the company sold in 1986, he became became a multimillionaire at age 43. The businessman says he got his taste for politics while at Harvard, inspired by President John F. Kennedy, also a Harvard graduate. Bredesen ran as a Democrat in 1969 for a Massachusetts Senate seat against a Republican incumbent. He lost.

Joe Carr: Endorsed by Tea Party Patriots on anti-amnesty grounds

The issue at the center of both the Tea Party Patriots' endorsement and Carr's new ad is Alexander's alleged support for "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, a charge Carr has made central to his campaign.

The Tea Party Patriots endorsement praised Carr as a "genuine leader" in the fight against illegal immigration, criticizing Alexander for being one of the 14 Republicans to vote for the reform bill that passed the Senate last year.

"Joe wants to preserve American sovereignty; Lamar Alexander's policies are producing a human wave of criminality and disease on the Rio Grande," the group's chairwoman said. Carr's radio ad also hits Alexander on his support for the immigration measure, charging that the senator "voted with Democrats to pass a bill creating a border crisis by giving amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens."

Lamar Alexander: Declined to debate in Republican primary

"Lamar's website doesn't tell you a lot of things," Carr says in the radio ad. Carr led the charge for stricter immigration laws in the Tennessee Legislature and believes the focus on immigration reform could pay off for him in the Aug. 7 primary election.