Skeleton Crews
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 4:25 pmRoll Call talks about the migration of DC staff during campaign season:
Four days before the elections, most offices in the Senate are operating with little more than skeleton crews. Most of the top staff for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn..) have been back in their bosses’ home states for weeks. Both McConnell and Alexander are facing voters this year, with McConnell locked in a tight fight and Alexander expected to see a relatively easy win on Election Day.
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An Undecided Tennessee Voter
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 4:12 pmDiscusses her plight with NPR:
Constance Griffin is a 35-year-old single mother of two who works as an account technician with the State of Tennessee, Department of Corrections. Griffin is working on her associates degree; she’s also a Baptist who considers herself very religious and is an undecided voter. She discusses her take on the election and the candidates.
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Do Voters Want To Spread The Wealth Around?
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 4:09 pmPolling indicates that John McCain may have turned some folks around on the issue of redistribution of wealth:
Granting that you can’t demonstrate causation based on correlation, but what seems to have happened here is that McCain started articulating an unpopular, anti-egalitarian message. But his endless repetition of the message “taught” a significant number of self-identifying Republicans than their previous egalitarian views were “wrong” and brought them around to the orthodox conservative position. A small number of independents seem to have gone along for the ride as well, which isn’t surprising since we know many independents are covert partisans and there’s also the possibility of statical noise. And Democrats didn’t move at all. But in essence, McCain’s message seems to be persuading his base to change their minds about an issue, rather than persuading undecided voters to turn against Obama.
It’s Not The Pants That Make You Look Fat, It’s Your Hips
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 4:07 pmDavid Donadio believes that McCain is McCain’s problem, not Sarah Palin:
The real problem is McCain. McCain is campaigning against the media; Obama is campaigning for the presidency. McCain chose a running mate who’s a bigger story than he is; Obama is the biggest story in years. Whether you’re unhappy about foreign policy, domestic spending, unrestrained executive power, or anything else, there’s little in McCain’s message or his demeanor that says he cares about conservatives who don’t like the direction the Republican party is heading. Seeing his routine at the Al Smith dinner, I thought: there’s the McCain we like, the self-effacing public servant whose good humor goes far. And the next day, he was back to his latter-day campaign self: angry, erratic and bellicose.
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Cromer’s Picks
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 3:17 pmThe Tennessee Journal has made its predictions in the state’s senate races and concludes that the count will be 17-15-1:
In today’s edition of the insider’s newsletter, Cromer picks Mike Williams against Mike Faulk in District 4, but “it could go either way,” and he predicts the GOP will snag a Democratic seat with a victory by Ken Yager against Becky Ruppe in District 12, though “this one too could go either way.”
He’s going with Randy Camp against Delores Gresham in District 26 but only if you put a gun to his head. “If we had to bet, we’d bet on Camp, but we wouldn’t bet much.”
Hank Williams Jr. For Senate?
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 3:13 pmWKRN entertainment guru Brad Schmitt reports on an artist’s contemplation of a career in politics:
“I’m quite motivated, cousin,” Hank told me Thursday night.
How motivated?
“You might be looking at the next senator from Tennessee, if this keeps up,” Bocephus barked. “And I AIN’T kidding!”
Hmmmmm. No, Hank hasn’t formed any sort of exploratory committees or a campaign headquarters.
But he has phoned former Sens. Bill Frist and Fred Thompson lately. Bocephus might be more serious than you think.
(TFJ: GIT)
A Prospect Of A New State House Speaker
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 2:44 pmJoe Lance ponders the current situation:
Whatever Rep. Odom’s specific plans are, I struggle to understand why good Democrats (and a dwindling number of Republicans) continue to prop up Jimmy Naifeh as the Speaker. I know why my Republican friends want to see him go: they want one of their own in the chair. But since I’m an independent, it’s not about party for me. I’d be just as comfortable with a Democrat. I’d want either to bring new principles to presiding over the chamber, and to avoid the seeming conflicts of interest (such as being married to one of the top lobbyists in the state).
I would enjoy an opportunity to meet Speaker Naifeh and talk to him face-to-face. I realize that from this distance, he comes across a bit caricatured, and that he might not seem such a “bogeyman” in person. But without such firsthand knowledge, I can only state that I feel his time with the gavel should end, so that our citizen legislature has the “breathing room” it needs to operate as intended. Therefore I support neither Rep. Odom nor Rep. Jason Mumpower specifically (should the Republicans gain a majority of seats); but I do support the process of reforming the General Assembly — one member at a time, but also in how and why its leaders are chosen.
What do you think? Will Gary Odom go for it? And if he does, will he win it?
Please
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 2:37 pmLawrence Eagleburger, former Secretary of State for a Republican President, keeps it real on Sarah Palin:
Throughout most of the 17-minute segment, the gruff and sometimes sarcastic Eagleburger played his part well enough — referring to McCain as an unquestionable “hero,” offering an avuncular “good for you” to one pro-McCain caller and dismissing Obama’s ideas for Iraq as “absurdities.”
So far so good, right? But when NPR interviewer Neal Conan started asking about Sarah Palin, things started to go horribly wrong.
Asked if the vice-presidential nominee is ready to take the presidential reins, Eagleburger said bluntly, “Of course not.”
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Was It Something He Said?
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 2:36 pmA conservative blogger accuses Clarksville Online of selective enforcement of its comment policy:
I wish I had saved the comment as proof, but I never “attacked” the interviewer. Expressing an opinion that he was biased is not a personal attack; it’s my opinion. Attack implies inflammatory remarks, threats, and foul language, none of which were contained in my comment. I felt it was a respectful response, but because it wasn’t positive or complimenting like the others that made it past editorial scrutiny, it was rejected.
I can understand moderating comments that meet the criteria I listed. There’s some pretty nasty remarks posted to all blogs that offer nothing to the conversation but hate. I’ve done my best on my blog not to get into that sort of writing. I may poke fun at my liberal friends and call them “goofballs” or even “idiots,” but I don’t condone vicious name-calling directed at anyone. It may be frustrating to read, but I do believe everyone is entitled to their opinion.
But obviously Clarksville Online doesn’t hold itself to such lofty standards.
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Red Light, Green Light
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 2:24 pmThe Tennessee Center for Policy Research’s Justin Owen talks red light cameras with WKRN’s Bob Mueller:
Check It
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 1:51 pmMary Mancini warns you make sure you are on the voter rolls before you go to the polls:
Voter roll purging is this election season’s new black. Unfortunately, it’s not fabulous. So take what little time you have between now and next Tuesday and check your registration - whether this is your first election or you’ve been voting every year since you were 18.
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“If” Is the Key Word
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 1:36 pmA blog with an obviously superficial knowledge of Tennessee politics runs down the 2010 Governor’s race:
Governor Bredesen cannot run for reelection in 2010. Harold Ford would probably get the Democratic nomination if he ran. If he does not, other possible candidates include Representatives Steve Cohen, Lincoln Davis, and John Tanner, Kim McMillan, and Bill Purcell.
Bill Frist would be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination if he ran. If he doe not, Representative Zach Wamp probably will. Representatives Marsha Blackburn and David Davis represent the next tier. Last resort candidates include Jim Bryson and State Representative Beth Harwell.
Given the state’s Republican leanings, the GOP is a favorite to retain the governorship.
The inclusion of Cohen, Tanner and Purcell on the Democratic side and the absence of Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam from the Republican side make this an imperfect analysis at best.
Sounds Like An Interesting Family
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 1:29 pmSome interesting info from 1998 on one of the families involved in the purchase of Nashville’s minor league baseball franchise:
Hirokuni and Mitsuhiro Honzawa have been warring in courtrooms in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Liechtenstein over the landmark Mobil Building at E. 42nd St. and Lexington, as well as numerous other properties in New York and Tokyo valued at $1 billion.
The fight has been brutal, especially by Japanese standards where disputes typically conclude as negotiated settlements not public hostilities.
Hirokuni, 62, the older of the two brothers, has accused Mitsuhiro in legal papers of a wide range of abuses, from bungling the family’s New York investments to embezzling $2.3 million from a family bank account in Hong Kong.
Mitsuhiro, 56, has denied these accusations while making several on his own. He contends Hirokuni improperly locked him out of the family business and evicted him from his luxurious company-owned house, forcing him to live in a small apartment.
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Not Ready To Learn
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 1:11 pmClark Stooksbury is not optimistic that the GOP will learn any lessons from the defeat they are about to receive in the national arena:
If the Republican party is going to recover from the well-earned defeat they have coming next week, it will require an honest assessment the reasons for their failure from conservative leaders and thinkers. I’ve seen little evidence that Republican-oriented conservatives are up to the task.
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Novelist John Irving On Sarah Palin And The Ignorant Masses
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 12:50 pmCourtesy of Jim Ridley:
The bestseller list in the U.S. doesn’t only reflect what we read. That list is a reflection of how backward we are as a culture. We are anti-intellectual, we don’t value the arts, and we don’t sufficiently support education. President Bush made sounding stupid actually comforting to many Americans. Look at the rush of instant identification that many Americans felt for Governor Palin; she was mean, she was poorly informed, she spoke badly. I said to my wife, after watching Palin’s debate with Senator Biden, that I could only think of one question that woman might not duck—one she actually might answer, even with enthusiasm. Here’s the question. I have never field-dressed a moose, but—in my deer-hunting days—I have field-dressed deer, and I would have liked to ask the perky Alaskan if the process is more or less the same. (Only a lot bigger!) I could easily imagine Gov. Palin’s eyes brightening; an onslaught of pre-orgasmic winking might have ensued. “Ya know,” she might have begun, “ya just gotta make a big slit from the critter’s brisket to its crotch, and ya gotta reach way the heck up and grab hold of the rectum. Ya can’t let the feces fall out and get all over the meat, ya know. But there’s really nothin’ to it. It’s just a moose—it’s not a Russian, or somethin’!” I think that pretty much covers what the governor might say in answer to that question, except that she probably wouldn’t use the feces word—if ya know what I mean.
In short, there’s more wrong with this country than we don’t read.
NiederWhat? NiederWho?
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 12:42 pmA humorous radio spot for 14th state Senate district candidate Mike Niederhauser running against Democratic nominee Eric Stewart who unseated incumbent Sen. Steve Roller. Roller was appointed the interim senator in the district after the disgraced Senator Jerry Cooper resigned.
The Democratic Party, however, doesn’t think Niederhauser is so funny:
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Yager Denounces Anti-Ruppe Website
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 12:19 pmThe Republican state Senate candidate in District 12 denounces an inflammatory website which contains, among other things, salacious details of Becky Ruppe’s daughter’s interrupted visitors room rendezvous with her prisoner husband:
“It has come to my attention that a website was recently launched attacking Becky Ruppe and her family. I find the content and the intent of this website despicable and disgusting and I call on the owner the website to take it down immediately.
Most disturbing are the references to Ms. Ruppe’s family: family should always be off limits. Whoever did this should be ashamed.
Tactics like these have no place in our election process. They turn voters off and create cynical attitudes towards our candidates and elected leaders. We need candid and open debate about issues that actually affect people about such as jobs, healthcare and education.
I ask the citizens of the 12th District and Tennessee to join me in denouncing this website and the efforts to distract voters from real issues.”
Adkins And Holleman On Highly Speculative Possible Run For Highly Speculative Possible Open Congressional Seat
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 12:11 pmMichael Cass gets two Councilmen on the record on running for Rep. Jim Cooper’s 5th District seat:
Councilman Greg Adkins, who represents Crieve Hall and is the council’s speaker pro tem, said some friends have approached him about the possibility of running.
“I would not rule it out,” the second-termer said after expressing his admiration for Cooper and the Congressman’s work.
Councilman Jason Holleman, also rumored to be exploring a run, was a little more coy, writing in an e-mail: “It is an intriguing opportunity, but I think it’s premature to speculate on what might happen if Obama gets elected and if the Congressman takes a position in the administration.”
Holleman is a first-term councilman from Sylvan Park.
For his part, Cooper is reiterating that he has no interest in doing anything but representing the good people of the Fifth Congressional District, from which he’s expected to win his fourth term next week.
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You Want A Wink War?
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 10:59 amTeam Sarah will give you one. A response to this Barack Obama ad:
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey Says GOP May Pick Up Four State Senate Seats
Posted on October 31, 2008 at 10:59 amHe also admits pondering a run for Governor.
UPDATE: Matt Hurtt is not a big fan of the article this post links to.
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