PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- You can cast your vote for Tennessee's next governor in less than five weeks. Life in the campaign fast lane is keeping both candidates, Democrat Mike McWherter and Republican Bill Haslam, busy.

"Life was full to begin with, since the primary it probably has, the pace has picked up even more," said Haslam.

The Republican nominee spent Thursday as he has many others over the past 20 months - on the road. He first stopped at the I-40 rock slide conference in Newport at the Mountain Crest Inn.

"For a while I used to count, like I've worked 85 or 90 hours this week, but pretty soon, you just stop worrying about that because it will wear you out if you think about it," he said.

Then he headed over to the Pigeon Forge Holiday Inn, where he spoke to members of the Pigeon Forge Hospitality Association. He focused on selling Tennessee as a place to bring business, a place to bring tourists, and new residents.

"Those jobs that are created, the sales tax that's paid through that, all of that's really critical to our economy, and the things that we want to do as a state," said Haslam.

He took questions about education, which he called Tennessee's biggest handicap. "We rank 42nd out of the 50 states, and none of us as Tennesseans want to stay at the bottom of that list, we can do better than that," he said.

He was also asked about immigration, which he boiled down to illegal jobs. "We need to make sure we cut off that sources, particularly people who hire illegally. Make sure we find those people and penalize them," he said.

Haslam says shaking hands, and seeing new faces, helps him learn voter concerns. "There's no question, the biggest concern on people's minds all across the state is jobs," he said. "Even though our economy is doing a little better now, I think people realize, we're not out of the woods yet."

Friday the mayor will make stops in the Tri-Cites, before spending the day Saturday in Middle Tennessee.