McMillan Unofficial Surrogate At Young Dems Convo: FAIL

By Kleinheider Posted on May 16, 2009 at 2:22 pm

Young Democrats attending their state convention today did not give a warm reception one Angela Danovi who spoke in favor of Kim McMillian’s gubernatorial campaign — at least on Twitter.

Ilissa Gold, Leah Kirk and Sean Braisted all remember Danovi from the 2008 campaign when she had the following to say about Barack Obama and her intent NOT to vote for him in 2008.

Danovi said she will not vote for Obama, but she’s not going to vote for John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, either.

“I’m going to be voting present. I’m going in the voting booth, and I don’t plan on casting a vote for president. I will vote for other positions. Those are important,” she said.

Leah Kirk suggested a better surrogate for the campaign: McMillan campaign spokesman and young Democrat in his own right, Wade Munday.

When contacted about the Twitter comments Munday reports that he was unable to attend the convention personally because he is currently help a friend move. As for Danovi, Munday says her speaking role at the convention was not coordinated by the campaign and she is not an official spokesperson for Kim McMillan.

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Tags: Angela Danovi, Kim McMillan, Leah Kirk, Sean Braisted, Tennessee Young Democrats State Convention  

Claudia Weaver Elected President Of The Tennessee Young Democrats

By Kleinheider Posted on at 1:50 pm

So reports the Brainstem from the Young Dems state convention.

Weaver served as Deputy Campaign Manager for David Briley during the 2007 mayoral election and currently works in the Harold Ford, Jr.’s office at Merrill Lynch. Weeaver previously served Ford during the 2006 U.S. Senate campaign as both a scheduler and as South East Tennessee Field Director.

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Tags: Claudia Weaver, Harold Ford, Sean Braisted, Tennessee Young Democrats State Convention  

Mike Padgett And Mad Props

By Kleinheider Posted on May 30, 2008 at 7:02 am

Democratic U.S. Senate Mike Padgett “journals” his get together with some local Democrats at the Tin Roof:

This evening, Jake and I hooked up with about 30 local Democrats at the Tin Roof on Demonbreun. My friend John Little dropped by, as did Brady Banks, Derek Tibbs and popular Nashville bloggers Sean Braisted and Ilissa Gold. Jake was on his best behavior, with his beautiful girlfriend at his side.

With this 35-and-under crowd, the conversation was hot, the beer was cold, and a good time was had by all.

Ilissa Gold recounts her conversation with the candidate on education:

Since he served on the Knox County school board, he has some specific ideas as to how to improve education in this country. His goal is that every child should be able to read the newspaper by fourth grade (I can’t speak for newspapers in the rest of the country, but the Tennessean is certainly written on a level that fourth graders should be able to read it). He also wants to work to reduce class sizes, noting that larger class sizes later on in a child’s education wouldn’t matter as much as long as he or she has the fundamentals.

Overall, I left very impressed by his candor and honesty.

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Tags: Ilissa Gold, Mike Padgett, Sean Braisted, Tin Roof