Bredesen--A Governor, Not a Veep

Earlier today, the Memphis Commercial Appeal speculated on the possibility of Governor Bredesen being a vice presidential candidate:

Romero said he could "absolutely" see Bredesen as a vice presidential candidate next year. "Tennessee has been a good bellwether of how candidates come across to the rest of the nation. His leadership and popularity here, in a state that usually picks the winner in presidential elections, I think would lend to the credibility of him as a vice presidential candidate."

Bredesen, re-elected last year by sweeping all 95 counties, eschewed such talk but wouldn’t rule it out. "I have a job. I love being governor," he said, and added that no one had mentioned a potential vice presidential candidacy to him.

Now, personally, I like Bredesen. He may be more conservative than I'd like, but for the most part he's been a sensible and pragmatic leader. He's pushed several progressive initiatives like the cigarette tax, and I don't blame him entirely for the TennCare mess, as some do. I think more of the blame should go to Don "Just stick a Band-Aid on the problem!" Sundquist.

If you'd asked me a year ago if I thought Bredesen would bring a lot to a Democratic ticket, I woud've absolutely thought so. However, I can't see it anymore now.

Look at the three front-runners. Bredesen certainly wouldn't bring any balance to an Edwards ticket. And I like Hillary, but I can virtually guarantee that even having a Governor who swept all 95 counties in his re-election on her ticket is not going to help her win here. Bredesen might bring some balance to an Obama ticket, but if Obama wanted a Southern running mate, I feel like he could probably find someone more...well, inspired.

So I hope all this talk about him being a VP candidate is just that...talk.

Beyond Creepy

Via Kleinheider, a YouTube video showcasing relatively unknown Vice-Mayor candidate (unknown apart from the DUIs) Linda Perry and who I'm assuming is her daughters. I have no comment other than "Beyond creepy."





This is like "The Shining." "Come and play with Linda Perry! Forever and ever!"

Bellevue Blues

Sean Braisted pointed out this story earlier today, about Councilman Eric Crafton who's running for re-election to the Council from Bellevue. I don't live in his district, but I'm still in "the 221" so I found this really funny.

In Crafton's recent mailing, he brags about how he's been at the forefront for revitalizing the two-story morgue known as Bellevue Mall:

"Ensure the Bellevue Mall's viability by creating an Economic Development Zone for the mall. This legislation I introduced has already passed the Metro Council and the Industrial Development Board. The mall's new owner is already creating a redevelopment plan that includes great retail shops, more restaurants and the possible relocation of our new library to the Mall Campus!"

I vividly remember when Bellevue Mall first opened. I must have been 5 or 6 years old, and when I saw the two big toy stores, the huge video game arcade, and later on the play area in the middle, I thought it was a little slice of heaven. But it seemed to die off almost as quickly as it arrived. As I grew older and more interested in clothes than toys, I drifted away from Bellevue towards Green Hills, where the better stores were. But I missed having somewhere to shop closer to home.

Funny story/tangent though--my freshman year of college, when I came home for winter break, I had to stop by there for some reason one day. On one end of the mall, they had a traditional "Get your picture taken with Santa" stand. A few hundred feet away, someone had set up a booth with a monkey dressed up like Santa, and for the same price you could get your picture taken with the monkey. The monkey was doing much better business than Santa.

So I'd welcome any chance of reviving the mall and the whole area around it. But as Sean pointed out, Eric Crafton exaggerated what all he's done for the area. The mall is in talks with potential new owners, but nothing's materialized yet. My fear is that it's going to get bought out by Wal-Mart or one of the big boxes, which is definitely NOT what Bellevue needs right now. We need REAL redevelopment.

And as far as moving the library to the mall campus, I don't understand what's wrong with where it is now. Sean points out that it doesn't make economic sense to move it, and it doesn't make practical sense either. Where the library is now, next to the Red Caboose playground, is a very family-friendly area, in a way that putting it near a mall or a big box store couldn't hope to achieve. I spent a lot of time there when I was little, since it was also right next to the Bellevue Middle School football fields, where the pee-wee "Bellevue Steelers" played and I was a cheerleader for them (because my mom's first plan to make me a pageant princess didn't quite work out).

We need a real plan for Bellevue, not just more Band-Aid solutions.

Shout-Out to My U.K. Peeps

I spent my junior year abroad in London (see?! GoldnI has a passport!! She's an ELITIST!! BLAH!!) and according to my SiteMeter, 2% of my readership comes from my good friends over there. So in honour of them, here's a special U.K. post, even though none of them will probably read it until tomorrow morning.

In case you haven't heard, new U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in the U.S. to visit Dubya at Camp David. Here's how MSNBC described the meeting:

Still, what the men stressed was what their nations have in common when they appeared together — 25 minutes late, a rarity for the usually punctual president — to cap their talks.

“So everyone’s wondering whether or not the prime minister and I were able to find common ground, to get along, to have a meaningful discussion,” Bush said at the outset. “And the answer is ‘Absolutely.”’

Now here's how the BBC described it:

The president said he found Mr Brown a warm, humorous man, far removed from the "dour Scotsman" image sometimes portrayed by the media.

He also paid tribute to Mr Brown's personal strength in overcoming the death of his first child in 2002.

And he joked when he learned that six of Mr Brown's newly-appointed cabinet were under 40 years old, telling the prime minister: "You must be feeling old."

But the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson, at Camp David, says Mr Brown did nothing to return those personal compliments - even referring to their meetings as full and frank, which is normal diplomatic code for an argument.

Now, there could be a very simple explanation for all of this. Gordon Brown's new at this, he's certainly not known as a charismatic public speaker, and he's got a lot on his mind right now, considering that as soon as I left the U.K., they got flooded and damn near blown up.

But there's no question that we've managed to screw up our relationship with our closest ally over Iraq. Gordon Brown is going to have to prove that he's not going to follow the same path as Tony Blair if he doesn't want Labour to get their asses handed to them by the Tories in 2010, and that means that the coalition of the willing is probably about to get a whole lot less willing.

Go Home, Yankee

WARNING: Don't read this post if you can't deal with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

This is something I touched on in my endorsement post, but I'm going more in depth into this subject because it seems to be popping up a lot more as we get closer to the election. The Tennessean's current series on the subject has got me thinking about it as well.

I'm seeing a lot of what I call nativist attitudes, and I'm not referring to immigration. I'm referring to this notion that someone can move to Nashville and live here for 15, 20, 30 years, and yet still be considered an outsider. They can move here, fully embrace the South and Southern culture, and disavow the North, California, or wherever they come from, and yet some will always see them as a Yankee.

I have no reason to think of myself as an outsider--I've lived here my whole life, at least my whole life that I can remember (I hope you won't hold it against me if I tell you I was born in Atlanta). But as I've said before, my perspective on Nashville is inherently shaped by my parents' experience--my father is a Northerner by birth, and my mom is a Southerner who bolted from her tiny Georgia hometown the first chance she got. But they moved to Nashville 20 years ago and made it their home. They've made it clear that they intend to stay here even after my dad retires, rather than moving to Florida. In the meantime, my dad has a staff of over 50 people and we pay plenty in taxes. Yet for all that, there are still people in this town who would think of my parents as outsiders, as Yankees.

In other words, you'll gladly take the tax dollars and jobs that people like them bring, but God forbid they should stick their nose into politics. You can't REALLY understand this city if you've lived here for 20 years, no, you have to be able to trace your lineage back to the Civil War for you to truly be "one of our own"! If you can't, then you're obviously just an ELITIST trying to tell the rest of us what to do!

Say, I've got a great idea--let's also forbid anyone who holds a passport from running for office in Tennessee! Anyone who's actually been to another country is OBVIOUSLY ELITIST (not to mention they CLEARLY hate America!). What are these people trying to say...that they're somehow TOO GOOD to spend every single moment in Tennessee?!

*****

In all seriousness, all I'm trying to say is that someone being from here or not being from here makes no difference on how they're going to do their job. And if the Tennessean is right, then this city is going to have a lot more of the latter before long. Parochialism is no way to run a major city.

Random Unrelated Questions

Last night I went to the Third Annual Gore Family Dinner (lots of fun, finally got to meet Sean Braisted in person, and of course in spite of everything, I still love Harold Ford Jr.), and tonight I'm watching the Giants-Marlins game. So I've got two questions to throw out.

1. Somehow, while we were eating dinner last night, those of us at my end of the table got to talking about who we'd invite if we could invite three people to dinner, dead or living. Who would you invite?

2. Barry Bonds--Hall of Fame, yes or no, and why?

My answers:

1. I'd invite Thomas Jefferson, just so I could ask if he thinks that there is an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution, and settle that once and for all. I'd also invite Elvis and the Dalai Lama.

2. Yes, for now. Do I doubt that he juiced? Not at all. But the thing is, it's never been definitively proven, and it may never be. And unless it is proven, I think the Hall of Fame should give him the benefit of the doubt. What people like Jose Canseco or the BALCO folks say certainly can't be considered credible evidence. And as someone on SportsCenter pointed out a few days ago, all the steroids in the world can't make someone a better hitter, they just make the hits go further. So in that regard, Bonds is still an amazing player regardless of whether or not he juiced.

Although I do wonder if it's hypocritical of me to want to give Barry Bonds the benefit of the doubt when I also think that Michael Vick should be kicked out of the NFL.

Another One Bites the Dust

H/t Kleinheider:

Another aide to Fred Thompson’s campaign-in-waiting resigned last night, two sources close to the campaign confirm. Tom Frechette had been effectively serving as campaign manager Tom Collamore’s deputy. Collamore was removed from his post Tuesday and given a “senior adviser” role. Like Collamore, Frechhette was said to have chafed under the heavy influence of Thompson’s wife, Jeri.

Serving as campaign manager of the Thompson not-campaign seems to be like being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts these days, with a jinx over it.

My Endorsement

I hadn't planned on doing an official "blog endorsement" for the mayor's race. Anyone who's read this or seen what I've written on other blogs already knows who I'm backing, so it seemed like a pointless exercise, not to mention somewhat cliche.

However, endorsements seem to be the fashionable thing to do this week, and I never want to be behind on the trends. Even though everyone knows who I support, I figured it might not be that bad of an idea to explain why I support that particular candidate.

So with that in mind, I'd like to officially endorse Karl Dean for Mayor of Nashville.

Obviously, you want someone experienced in the ins and outs of running Metro to be elected, and all of the candidates bring some sort of experience to the table. But I feel that where Dean differs from the rest of the pack is that for all of the time spent working for Metro, he is NOT a "career politician." We seem to have a lot of those in Nashville, who run for office not because of any deep-seated desire to move the city forward, but because they feel they have to hold SOME sort office. Furthermore, it's difficult to come up with innovative solutions to Nashville's problems when the same offices are always being held by the same group of people. That's part of the reason why I felt that Bredesen and Purcell were particularly successful as Mayors, and why Karl Dean would be as well.

That's not to say his administration would be exactly like their's, but there's no doubt how far this city has come since 1991, and Dean would continue to move Nashville in the same general direction.

Which brings me to my next point, a more personal point. There's something in Karl Dean's story that closely resembles my own family's story. Like him, my father is from Up North. But he came here for work, immediately fell in love with Nashville, and convinced my skeptical mother that it would be a great place to raise a family. They made it their home and now my dad somehow has a stronger Southern accent than anyone in my family.

Some of the candidates, I feel, represent something that is completely alien and has no connection to me. In "Old Nashville", there would have been absolutely no place for people like my family. But we're evolving as a city (or undergoing a process of intelligent design, if you must), and there is a place here for everyone.

And that's why I support Karl Dean. I want to see this city progress and evolve, and grow into its world-class potential. I feel he's the best one for this task.

I don't mean to take anything away from the other candidates. I've heard Howard Gentry speak several times, and I find both him and his own life story to be inspiring. I would be very pleased if he made it into the runoff. As far as David Briley is concerned, I think his policies are very well thought out and that he's been a great progressive on the Metro Council. Some of his supporters have made nasty and vicious comments on the blogs, particularly directed at Karl Dean's family. I don't know if they think they're helping Briley by saying stuff like that, but I won't hold the words of a few crazies against him.

And even though he's conservative, I also wouldn't have any problem backing Buck Dozier in a runoff. He at least had the decency to show up to the GLBT and New American forums, indicating that he's at least willing to listen to different viewpoints. He doesn't strike me as being quite as Dick Cheney-ish as he looks.

All I'm going to say about Bob Clement is...if his campaign truly does intend to go all "Willie Horton" on Karl Dean should they both make the runoff, I say go for it. We all know what happened the last time Clement ran a smear campaign against a political opponent.

Happy voting!

And Now for Something Completely Unrelated

On my way home today, my mom called and asked me to go pick up something for her in Cool Springs. We don't go to Cool Springs very often, usually only to go out to dinner. My mom and I used to go to Parisian, but since Green Hills Mall decided to become halfway decent all of a sudden, we don't need to anymore (and I think it closed anyway). I still have to go there if I want to go to Old Navy (I'm like a guy, I have to have a zillion white tees), since Opry Mills is even more of a hike from where I live and the only other one in town fell victim to The Curse of Bellevue Mall.

But I had to go out there today to run an errand. I had to go to Mallory Lane past the Galleria. And it's now official:


Cool Springs scares the shit out of me.

They have a lot of nice stores and restaurants, but it's impossible to find anything out there. All the strips look exactly the same, and while you're trying to find the store you're looking for, you'll get your ass run over by some crazy soccer mom in an Escalade trying to get the kids back to Brentwood in time for dinner.

So here's my question, if anyone's still reading this...what part of Nashville (or what suburb) scares the shit out of you, and why?

The Curiousity Is Getting Out of Control

A Briley supporter just put up a YouTube video attacking Karl Dean. It's every bit as amateur and low-quality as the last one. I'm not linking to it, it's not worth it. Kleinheider and Pith both have it up if you're interested.

I said I wasn't even going to mention it here, but I do have something to say. I'm saying this to all progressives in Nashville, both Briley AND Dean supporters. This circular firing squad is not helping your candidate of choice. Not only is it immature, you're doing exactly what the Bob Clement campaign wants you to do. So if you want a progressive mayor of Nashville, and don't want to see a Clement-Dozier runoff:

CUT.

IT.

OUT.

NOW.

Thank you.

UPDATE: From now on, if you're going to make an extraordinary accusation against a particular candidate, you had better have some sort of concrete evidence. Otherwise, your comment will be deleted without notice. Thank you.

Actually, No, It's NOT a "Woman Thing"

Anyone who knows me well knows that it's very difficult to truly piss me off. I'm very relaxed most of the time, and very few people have ever seen me blow up at someone. After reading what I'm about to present to you, I definitely felt like I was going to rip out my hair and punch someone.

Kleinheider pointed me out to this blog post, written by another female blogger. I'm not going to link back to it, but the link is on Kleinheider's page. The gist was that the woman didn't want people to vote for Karl Dean because she thought he was "a jerk" and that his smile looked fake, and that the other candidates were just so much nicer! But it was the last paragraph that REALLY got under my skin.

But there's something in all of this that affects everyone. Would hearing from a friend that a candidate is, well, a jerk, affect your voting decision? Is it a woman thing? Right or wrong, a large part of my voting decisions are based on the candidate's personal life and actions. But I'm constantly being told (usually by men) that that's a mistake.

You know what honey? No, it's NOT a "woman thing". I'm a woman, and I'm agreeing with the men who think you're wrong.

Before I go on, I realize I'm leaving myself wide open for accusations of bias here. But just bear in mind that I got pissed off at this last year when the situation was reversed, when friends told me they were voting for Harold Ford just because they thought he was good-looking.

The woman in question is certainly free to make superficial and vapid judgments about candidates if she wants, to vote for people based on their personality or their smiles rather than on their merits or their stances on important issues. But please, DO NOT justify it by using your gender as an excuse. There are many women out there, myself included, who want to be taken seriously in politics, and who treat elections as a serious matter. Frankly, I find this notion that it's a "woman thing" to be rather demeaning.

Furthermore, someone's personality is not always an indicator of how well they'll do their job. And for that, I'd like to offer you what I call "The Tale of Two Rabbis".

My family goes to two different synagogues in town, because we can't decide which branch of Judaism we belong to. Up until recently, the two synagogues had rabbis who couldn't be more different from each other. One of the rabbis was a real California type, relaxed, warm, and outgoing. But he also could care less about your spiritual fulfillment. It didn't matter how much had to be cut out of Friday night services, the service had to end on time so that he could go home. When I was 16, preparing for Confirmation, he said something to me that I found so abhorrent and contrary to the principals of Judaism that it's been difficult for me to look him in the eye ever since.

The other rabbi was the complete opposite. Originally from Brooklyn, he had a more aloof and reserved personality. Some congregants took that to mean that he didn't care about them. But just because he was not outgoing did not mean he was not sympathetic. He was an absolute rock for my mother when my grandfather passed away six years ago, and many other congregants have stories of him being there for them in moments of crisis. In addition, the traditional purpose of a rabbi is not to be a clergyman but to be a teacher. This rabbi was a true scholar. You could ask him ANYTHING about what something in the Bible meant, and he would always have an answer (or three). And I did ask a lot, especially when I was in high school and challenging everything about my religion. He answered every question I had and forever remained patient with me. I probably still wouldn't be observant today if not for him.

Just food for thought.

And Curiouser Again

After blaming the Dean campaign for a mysterious attack ad against David Briley and his voting record (or lack thereof) that was posted on YouTube last week (and which would make no sense for the Dean campaign or any of the other campaigns to be behind, as I explained yesterday), Jeff Woods now wants to know why Briley won't answer questions about the ad:

“It’s interesting that someone would attack someone who’s last in the polls,” Briley told The City Paper last night. “Maybe I’m not last.”

That's really funny. Briley also said he hasn't even watched the video, which details his non-voting record. Maybe that's because he already knows how many times he didn't vote on issues before the Metro Council. Some politicians take a powder on controversial measures because they don't want their votes to be used against them in future electon campaigns. Is that what Briley has been doing? He should address the substance of the video.

First of all, as I've already said, if he's not in last, then let's see those internal numbers that his campaign keeps referencing.

But that's not the point. Looking at this from a pure campaign strategy perspective, he shouldn't respond to the video. It's a low-quality anonymous video, probably put up by some kid or some anti-immigration kook, and what good would it do him to get all angry about it?

If this video had come out a month ago, then maybe he should address it, to clear up any misconceptions (if there are any) about his voting record. But with a week to go before the election, I really don't see how responding to this is going to help his numbers or his support at all.

Don't let this get to you, Councilman Briley. It's really not worth it.

You Are So Nashville If...

This week's Nashville Scene just came out, and it's the annual You Are So Nashville If... edition.

And yours truly got four entries in!

You Are So Nashville If...

--You live in Music City, yet have to drive to Manchester to see a decent summer concert.

--You were OUTRAGED that Carrie Underwood beat you at the CMAs.

--You go to a popular Japanese hibachi restaurant, and your chef, your waiter, and most of the staff are Mexican (hey, it's true)

--You have no problem with the Iraq War, yet think "The Things They Carried" is too graphic to be on a high school reading list.

Curiouser and Curiouser

As the intrigue surrounding the Mayor's race continues to grow, between leaks and polls and endorsements and what have you, we now have an anonymous attack video posted on YouTube, aimed at David Briley's record on immigration.

Jeff Woods:

Called "David Briley Ducks," it rebukes the at-large council member for abstaining or not voting at all 55 times since 2000. That's 1 out of 3 votes, according to the video.

Who posted it? When we asked the Dean campaign, press secretary Janel Lacy said she'd never heard of the video. But we still think it's Dean's campaign or one of his supporters. Dean's the only campaign worried about Briley. The two candidates appeal to the same kind of liberals, and Briley could knock Dean out of the race if he wins too many votes next week. The Briley campaign wouldn't comment on the video.

Apologies to Jeff Woods, but that makes absolutely no sense. The final paragraph basically amounts to accusing the Dean campaign of being behind the video. But if that's the case, why now? The polls are indicating that Dean has nothing to worry about from Briley. Why would they want to anger the people whose votes they're going to need in the runoff?

And as some people have pointed out, if you look at the actual YouTube page for this video, this was up well over a week ago. So how come we're just hearing about it now? If it WAS a campaign that released this, wouldn't they have done what they could (covertly) to make sure EVERYONE knew about it?

Finally, look at the quality of the video. It doesn't look like a video, it looks like a PowerPoint presentation that someone slapped on YouTube. Don't you think that if one of the campaigns had a hand in this, they would've made it more interesting to watch?

It makes no sense. This is what happens when you refuse to think about these things in terms of campaign strategy and start thinking like...frankly, like a whiny blogger!

Fred Thompson--Going the Way of John McCain?

(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)

I don't know if the internal issues within Fred Thompson's not-campaign are THAT bad yet, but I do know that if a right-wing Tennessee blogger has to post an entry that says "Fred Campaign NOT in Disarray", you know there's got to be a problem.

In the last 24 hours, two of Fred Thompson's chief campaign staff have either resigned or simply been moved to more "advisory positions," depending on which source you believe. Yesterday, acting campaign manager Tom Collamore and Thompson inner-circler was "replaced". And today, we are now getting word that research director J.T. Mastrandi, has resigned as well.

According to the campaign, there may be a very simple explanation for Collamore's departure:

Linda Rozett, spokeswoman for the Friends of Fred Thompson organization, said he had been shifted to a senior adviser job on the team.

"He has not resigned," she said. "What he has done is put together an organization and a structure and we are preparing to move on to another phase. We are adding some new, experienced political strength to the organization."

But that's apparently not what some sources close the the campaign are telling CNN (emphasis mine):

Several GOP sources familiar with the decision — and the additions to the Thompson staff — acknowledged differences between Collamore and Thompson’s wife, Jeri, on structure and staffing.

"It was not hostile by any means, but she is very involved and there were clear differences," one source close to the situation told CNN.

She is running the operation, said a senior GOP source who is close to Collamore.

Now, this may all be speculation, or a misunderstanding. But look at what our favorite "fair and balanced" site has to say about it:

When asked to confirm reports that Tom Collamore would reduce his role to senior adviser, two senior Thompson insiders adamantly denied it to FOX News today, insisting that the emergence of Randy Enright as campaign manager and the reduction of Tom Collamore's role had always been part of the plan.

But multiple sources close to Thompson now tell FOX News that denial was inaccurate. In fact, Collamore and Kehn (Jeri Kehn Thompson) butted heads, and that was partially responsible for Collamore's move.

Thompson's wife Jeri is a hard-nosed former Republican party operative and a long time political professional with a strong will. Insiders have long speculated that her personality would play a big role in the narrative of Thompson's candidacy.

So to summarize...even the wingers are admitting there's trouble in paradise already, with potential for even more.

As for who's replacing Collamore, one of them is former Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham. According to his wiki:

Abraham was a consistent advocate of large-scale immigration and worked relentlessly to lessen immigration controls and regulations. In 1997 he received the "Defender of the Melting Pot" award from the National Council of La Raza.

Yeah...that's REALLY going to help Fred Thompson with that little problem of his conservative credentials (or lack thereof).

And as for the research director?

The friend said that Mastranadi was "fed up" with the "lack of structure"

No word on whether or not Jeri had anything to do with that, but it's still indicating trouble in paradise.

I don't think he's having as serious problems as McCain yet, but one thing's for sure--no matter who you're backing in 2008, ALL of the Dem candidates have run far better campaigns so far than any of the Republican front-runners.

(h/t Kleinheider)

Wednesday Morning Surprise Endorsements

Two more newspapers in Nashville have made their endorsements for Mayor this morning.

First up, the City Paper goes and pulls a Sierra Club by endorsing two candidates:

It has already been a long summer of campaigning in the Metro mayoral race, and all popular wisdom suggests strongly there will be a run-off campaign this fall. We believe that second phase of the mayoral campaign should be a great debate about the future of Nashville. The City Paper recommends the voters of Nashville choose former public defender Karl Dean and Vice Mayor Howard Gentry for the mayoral run-off race.

Gentry and Dean in this first phase of the campaign have demonstrated the deepest understanding of our city. Both men genuinely understand the opportunities knocking on Nashville’s door as well as the very real challenges we face. Dean and Gentry know the key to solving Nashville’s problems and charting its future rests with addressing the issues facing our children. Crime and poverty pull our children away from school. We must find ways to pull them back into society and the fold of successful, forward thinking public education.

Now, what's interesting about this endorsement is that they're not saying vote for one of these two. They want those two in the runoff against Clement. While I don't see that happening right now, I think the city would do well with either Dean or Gentry as Mayor. Even though I personally am a Karl Dean supporter, I've heard Gentry speak and I like what I hear. And as Sean points out, it is a little surprising that a paper that some complain is a "right-wing rag" would snub both Clement and Dozier.

Also, the City Paper's vice-mayor poll shows Diane Neighbors beating Carolyn Baldwin Tucker 48-29. SHOCKING, I know. But if those numbers hold this will still require a runoff.

There was one more endorsement this morning, and this one may come as even more of a surprise than the City Paper's.

From Liz Garrigan at the Nashville Scene:

This week, the Nashville Scene endorses Karl Dean for mayor of Nashville and Diane Neighbors for vice mayor.

To me, this was astounding. I had fully expected them to endorse Briley. But:

Briley is also one of Nashville’s most politically calculating personalities, so much so that he strategizes himself in circles. Examples are his recently released policy paper on dealing with illegal immigrants in Nashville and a TV ad covering some of the same terrain. While the whole of the policy paper is benign, one section—dealing with punishing local employers who hire illegals—is not only disingenuous, but also outside Metro’s authority, which Briley well knows. We believe Briley’s exploration of the topic was intended to exploit an anti-immigrant sentiment for political advantage.

On one hand, it does seem a little unfair that this should be his undoing, since he was one of the few candidates to even talk about the issue, and if you read his actual immigration policy, it comes off as more friendly than what he says in the commercials. But there's no question that his triangulation on the issue isn't helping him.

Meanwhile:

Karl Dean, the former Metro law director and public defender, is simply an honest broker with a focused message. He’s not politically insecure, and thus doesn’t engage in the kind of cunning doublespeak that others have demonstrated a willingness to practice. His rhetoric is plain and clear, lacking platitudes and kowtowing. Dean has an almost Kennedy-esque persona, and is a sort of Nashville Mr. Smith, a character whose slightly dorky disposition is so genuine as to be endearing.

Kennedy-esque? Wow.

So now the three major Nashville papers have made their endorsements, with 2 1/2 of them going to Karl Dean.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: In the Comments section, City Paper editor-in-chief Clint Brewer clears up a misconception about the paper's endorsement.

One Chromosome Short of Joementum

Is just one description of State Sen. Rosalind Kurita.

From Chris Jackson via Kleinheider:

Among the members of the Tennessee delegation attending the DLC’s 2007 National Conversation are:

• Phil Bredesen, Governor
• Jim Cooper, U.S. Representative
• Lincoln Davis, U.S. Representative
• Bill Purcell, Mayor, Metro Nashville
• Rosalind Kurita, Senate Speaker Pro Tempore

The DLC is headed by Harold Ford Jr., and has been repeatedly criticized for being too right-wing and a malicious influence on the Democratic Party. Personally, although I find some of their positions distasteful, I don't believe that they're the all-poweful boogeyman waged in eternal warfare against the blogosphere that some would make them out to be. The 2006 elections were about rejecting this kind of pandering, and I think looking at them as a boogeyman gives them too much credit.

But the fact that Kurita is going to this is certainly curious, considering that we were all told that she was the TRUE progressive in last year's Senate race.

I want to feel a little sympathy for her, I do. She's certainly one of the most progressive state Senators we have, and was key in pushing through the recent tax increase on cigarettes. Even after she dropped out of the Senate race, I was all gung-ho to work to help her unseat Marsha Marsha Marsha! Blackburn next year.

And I understand that she was frustrated working within the good ol' boy establishment that is the Tennessee Democratic Party.

But aren't there more constructive ways to express your frustration than by selling out your entire party and giving the majority in the State Senate to the Republicans?

So I don't know if her attending the DLC conference is simply out of a desire to support other Tennessee politicians, or if she's truly starting to brandish more right-wing credentials. Even if she is still progressive, I don't know if I still trust her to stay that way in spite of all that's gone on in the last few months.

It really is a shame. I really feel she could have unseated Blackburn.

Dead Heat

By now, everyone's heard about the City Paper poll that showed Bob Clement, Karl Dean, and Howard Gentry in a statistical dead heat:

Bob Clement 23%
Karl Dean 21%
Howard Gentry 21%
‘Buck’ Dozier 16%
David Briley 12%
undecided 5%

The poll was done by SurveyUSA, which polled pretty accurately during last year's Congressional elections. But here's my issue with this poll:

The poll surveyed 564 likely voters in the mayoral election.

That's not much better than the WSMV poll from last week, which only polled 400-something people. I always feel like you need a bigger sample size in these kind of polls, at least 1,000. Nonetheless, SUSA's poll is probably at least a little more accurate.

So now we have three polls to go on--the two I just mentioned, plus the internal poll that was "anonymously" leaked to the Scene last week by one of the campaigns (cough Clement cough cough). And even if the numbers are not quite right, there are still several patterns that can be discerned:

--Bob Clement's numbers are sinking faster than the Titanic, although he'll still probably make it to the runoff.

--Karl Dean is surging at just the right time, and I'm interested to see how well this translates into turnout.

--Howard Gentry could be anywhere. I really like what I've heard from him and he could have a good a shot as anyone at making the runoff, but again his numbers will all come down to turnout.

--Buck Dozier is holding his base, but doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

--David Briley, as inspired of a campaign as he's run, also doesn't seem to be going anywhere. His internal numbers are supposedly more promising, but seeing how none of us have actually seen these numbers, well...

Regardless of what the true numbers are, it's looking more and more likely that we will at least have a progressive challenger to Bob Clement in the runoff. Poor lil' Bobby, thinking he was going to run away with it.

Heeere we go...

After at least two unsuccessful attempts at starting my own blog, I figured that the third time just might be the charm. So with that...

My name is GoldnI, and this is Silence Isn't Golden. I'm 21 years old, and I live in Nashville, TN (Music City, NashVegas, or Ca$hville if you like). I'm currently a senior at Cornell University, majoring in Government. I'm a lifelong political junkie, starting with my very first political rally when I was six years old, for Bill Clinton in 1992.

Being a Jewish liberal Democrat in the middle of the Bible Belt isn't the easiest existence there is. And it would be really easy for me to stay in New York or to go somewhere else after I finish school, someplace where more people agree with me.

But I always have to do things the hard way.

I've been inspired by Democratic leaders like Howard Dean and Rahm Emanuel, and by blogs such as Daily Kos, that are devoted into making the Democratic Party a truly national party, competitive in all 50 states. What I'm trying to do is work towards getting progressives elected both here in Nashville and throughout Tennessee.

For the next few weeks I'll be focused on our local elections here in Nashville, for Mayor and for Metro Council, and then I'll start focusing on the 2008 elections and other pertinent issues.

Thanks for reading!