Blogger Thinks Haslam Dodging Conservative New Media

By Kleinheider Posted on May 12, 2009 at 7:31 am

John Scott reports:

The Tennessee ConserVOLiance, an alliance of right-of-center new media activists in Tennessee, is hosting a series of forums to introduce the candidates to bloggers and those bloggers to the candidates. Each meeting consists of the candidate speaking to the attendees for about half the meeting time and then answering questions for the remainder of the time. The candidates are on the record for the entire time, and field any and all questions posed. All of the candidates have been invited to participate. Zach Wamp began the forum in March, meeting three different times with bloggers in each of Tennessee’s grand divisions - East, Middle, and West Tennessee. Bill Gibbons followed suit in April. Ron Ramsey is scheduled to do the same in June.

What happened to May? Well, that was expected to be the month for Bill Haslam to take a turn. At least a half dozen emails and as many phone calls have been placed to the Haslam campaign over the last 60 days to line up his forum dates. While the other candidates were eager to participate, to date the responses from the Haslam campaign have reportedly been non-committal. There seems to be a significant contrast between Mr. Haslam’s feelings about new media and that of the other candidates.

UPDATE: Just communicated with Haslam campaign manager Jeremy Harrell and he assures Post Politics that the Haslam campaign is very interested in meeting with the state conservative alternative media and has been in communication with ConserVOLiance big cheese Ken Marrero AKA Blue Collar Muse about coordinating meetups just like the other GOP candidates.

May is still a possibility although some cities of the blogger tour may have to wait until June.

UPDATE II: Ken Marrero apparently has a different take on the negogiations:

I have sent at least a half dozen emails and made as many phone calls to the Haslam campaign over the last 60 days trying to line up Forum dates for Haslam in May. You may have noticed that I haven’t got any Haslam forums schdeduled for May. That’s because, while I have received a couple of responses from the campaign, they have been pretty non-commital. I have reached the conclusion that reaching out to Bloggers, New Media and other eActivists is not a priority for the Haslam campaign at this time. Perhaps that will change for any one of a number of reasons. But to let the matter pass without noting it is unfair to the other candidates who have made themselves available to us, faced our questions and addressed our concerns. More to the point, the entire idea of candidate forums with bloggers came about because one of the candidates, Zach Wamp, approached us first. General Gibbons and Lt. Governor Ramsey have also been eager to meet with us. That one of the four candidates chooses not to participate is as noteworthy as if they had all accepted or declined the opportunity. In any event, some of you have asked me about the Haslam forum and that is the answer.

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Tags: Bill Haslam, Jeremy Harrell, Ken Marrero  

Sen. Alexander Gives Indicted Senator’s Cash To Charity

By Kleinheider Posted on July 31, 2008 at 3:39 pm

Tennessee’s own Lamar Alexander has joined those Senator’s jettisoning campaign funds gleaned from the embattled and indicted Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.

Post Politics has confirmed that the $10,000 dollars received by Alexander from Stevens’ Northern Lights PAC in 2008 as well as the $5,000 received in 2002 has been given to the United Way.

UPDATE: A statement from Campaign coordinator Jeremy Harrell:

“Americans are innocent until they’re proven guilty. Our campaign made the decision to donate the contributions to charity to avoid distraction.”

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Tags: Indictment, Jeremy Harrell, Lamar Alexander, Northern Lights, Ted Stevens