Free from any constitutional duties during the time between sessions, Chandler had begun laying the groundwork to succeed Laffoon as governor, almost from the beginning of his term as lieutenant governor. Laffoon, however, had made it clear that he favored Thomas Rhea to be his successor. Rhea secured the services of rising political boss Earle C. Clements as his campaign manager. Hailing from Morganfield, only a short distance from Chandler's hometown of Corydon, Clements later said that if Chandler had asked him first, he might have managed Chandler's campaign, instead of Rhea's. Instead, by the virtue of managing the opposing campaign, Clements became the leader of a Democratic faction that opposed Chandler for the next three decades.