"You can learn more in a place like Tipton's," said U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd, of Chattanooga, than just about anywhere on the campaign trail.

Wamp, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, stopped Wednesday in Greeneville on a sweep through East Tennessee. He said he stopped at Tipton's because he was invited.

"This is the center of Tennessee, right here," he said. At a place like Tipton's, Wamp said, people will speak their mind, and expect you to do the same.

At the end of his visit, when he asked Edna Cutshaw, Tipton's co-owner, if he could perhaps film a commercial there later in the campaign. She replied, "Why, sure!"

Later Cutshaw said Wamp seemed like a "down to earth" person who handles himself and people well, and is smart and well-informed. "I like him," she said.

With Wamp were his wife, Kim, and son, Weston, who graduated from the University of Tennessee last year.

Mrs. Wamp said their day started when they left Chattanooga at 4:30 a.m., headed for a breakfast in Johnson City, then a press conference at Tri-Cities Regional Airport.

Along the way they had picked up reporter Harlow Sumerfield and camera person Rebecca Williams of Knoxville's Channel 6.

After lunch in Greeneville, the Wamp motorhome, with the family and several staff members aboard or following in cars, headed for Knoxville.

There, Mrs. Wamp hoped to see her daughter, Coty, a junior at UT.

The congressman was scheduled to hold another press conference, then the family was to go to the UT-Georgia basketball game.

At Tipton's, Wamp chatted up and down the counter in the crowded diner while the rest of his party ate.

The noon hour was long gone before he could sit down and order a cheeseburger for himself. He finished the cheeseburger while talking to a reporter.

He spoke with Russell Ottinger, president of the senior class at Greeneville High School, and with Lauren Heffner, who, like Ottinger, had come to meet the congressman with GHS Principal Dr. Linda Stroud, as part of their political science class.

When one man sitting at the counter brought up a problem a friend was having doing business with the state, Wamp grew even more animated than usual.

"The Pew Center says Tennessee is a textbook case for procurement reform," Wamp said. Georgia, on the other hand, is among the nation's top 10 in terms of state procurement and purchasing, and "we want to follow that model."

However, Wamp had several good things to say about the administration of Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat who cannot run for a third term by state law.

"Bredesen managed TennCare better than his predecessor," Wamp said.

But much more needs to be done to improve the health of Tennesseans, he said. "Only West Virginia is less healthy," he said. "We've got 13-year-olds on high blood pressure medicine all over the place."

Walter Willis asked Wamp about how his religious faith would affect the way he would govern.

Wamp answered at length, saying at one point, that although he would "not have a Christian agenda," he would protect the rights of Christians, and the right of others to practice their religion.

"Radicalization in the name of religion is a concern," he said, adding, "Peace-loving Muslims need to stand against that," and need to be supported in that stance.

Personally, Wamp said, "My world view is the Bible."

Asked how a Wamp administration might look like a Bredesen administration, and how it might differ, Wamp said he would "maintain good management of TennCare."

He also said he would try to build on the "good head start on economic development" that the current administration has achieved by landing Volkswagen, Wacher Chemie and Hemlock, each of them billion-dollar investments in the state.

But the Republican candidate said he would put more focus on early reading, and make other efforts needed to move Tennessee from a state that is satisfied with "status quo" near the bottom of the nation in education, to one of the dozen or so states known for innovation.

Within a reasonable time, he said he would require schools where third-graders are not reading at grade level to provide one hour per day of phonics instruction.

Good third-grade readers become great 8th grade students who are more likely to graduate from high school, to go on to college, and to lead productive lives, he said.

Wamp said he would also place more emphasis on rural economic development. He said county leaders have told him there is no regular interface between rural county mayors and the governor.

Rural counties in Tennessee, unless they are near a major city or along an interstate highway, generally have high unemployment, and typically do not have good cell phone service or Internet access, which hold back economic development.

Wamp also said he would work to increase the Homeland Security sector of Tennessee's economy, a sector that he said, unfortunately, will continue to be needed in "an era of geopolitical strife, persistent conflict, rumors of wars, wars and terrorism."

Wamp is one of four Republican candidates seeking to become Tennessee's next governor. The others are Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons, Knoxville Mayor Jim Haslem, and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, of Blountville.