I found a link, and with 53% of the precincts counted, Phil Roe still leads David Davis by a narrow margin.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080807/NEWS0206/80807146/1016
Was David Davis a regional candidate from a remote part of the district who was unpopular in the Johnson City area?
yes
From a local (Bristol) paper endorsement for R(IN)oe: (note all of the liberal code words throughout the article !)
1st District, Congress, Republican primary:
Phil Roe, a retired obstetrician and Johnson City’s mayor, is our pick to replace one-term incumbent congressman David Davis. Roe is a common-sense conservative who is more interested in making government work than in slaying Democratic foes. Davis, on the other hand, is a bare-knuckled partisan street fighter full of sound and fury who has accomplished little in his two-year stint in Washington.
As we have stated many times in this space, this isn’t an anybody-but-Davis endorsement. Roe is a superior candidate, worthy of support in his own right.
During his tenure in Johnson City government, Roe has worked to cut the size of the bureaucracy without eliminating essential services. Some of these initiatives have included replacing part of the city’s fleet with more fuel-efficient vehicles and finding a useful purpose for methane gas given off by the city landfill.
Roe is a conservative – in both the fiscal and social senses of that word – but he isn’t locked into an ideological ghetto. If he is elected, we have confidence that Roe will recognize potential solutions to this nation’s problems (health care and energy chief among them) – no matter who proposes them.
Davis, in contrast, was ranked as one of the least effective members of Congress overall and as one of the weakest members of the freshman class. He’s initiated little legislation – except for a resolution honoring the American eagle – and there are questions about his earmarking and fundraising practices. Davis’ campaign accepted significant contributions from BAE Systems, a company that runs the Holston Army Ammunition plant in Kingsport, which arrived after the congressman secured a sizable earmark for the company.
Davis has used his office to benefit big business and as a soapbox from which to denounce all who do not share his hard-right beliefs. Roe offers a more sensible, while still conservative, approach.