Latest update from the Knox Co. Election Commission: Early voting today totaled 3,115. Saturday's total was 1,584. The total to date is now 16,345. Early voting ends Thursday.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I am pleased to be releasing campaign financial information here on my website and ahead of the deadline so voters can have as much information as possible. I encourage other candidates to do the same...

Read the rest and see the full list of contributors here.

The first of three or four controversial zonings is in progress. I'll keep this site posted as best I can.
1st item, NW side Gleason Drive, postponed 30 days.
2nd item, Victor Jernigan in S. Knox, amends to 1-5 units/acre instead of 12.
Other developers not present, items postponed to next meeting.
--Mark Harmon

This boy done went to Bean's brother's School of Humor!

I need to check some blogs. Where is my calculator?

A mathematical formula to detect the most useful blogs. What a timesaver :)

Link...

"...Given a budget of 100 blogs, the biggest bang for the buck belonged to the popular Instapundit blog"

The Knox County early voting surge is on. 1843 people voted early on Friday, bringing the total to 11,645 through Friday. The breakdown so far is 39% Democrat and 56% Republican. No numbers yet for Saturday. The last day of early voting is this Thursday, Jan. 31. We predict turnout Thursday will be in the range of 4000-5000 voters.

From what I am hearing and reading, it seems both Parties are turning off voters left and right (no pun intended).

Many Republicans express shame at the way GWB has conducted this presidency. They feel like the religious right tends not to represent their beliefs. They think their party has become too identified with right-wing conservative whackos. They are leaving their party to vote Democratic.

Many Democrats think their party is rife with corporate connections. They don't believe their vote really counts. They think the nominations in each Party are rigged. They are on the verge of being totally disenchanted with Party politics. I hear a lot of people say if Hillary wins they are bailing out of the Democratic Party. They intend to become Independents next election.

Lately, Bloomberg as an Independent seems to be gathering momentumn. Are a whole lot of people looking around for a 3rd party choice that could actually win an election? Is it even possible for a third party to compete with the two established ones?

Yet another candidate with back taxes:

Richard Cate, a candidate for Knox County Commission in the 4th District, owes back taxes and dirty-lot liens on a piece of property on Lilac Avenue, according to county records.

I'm not sure which is worse -- this latest disclosure or his explanation, which brings up a bunch of other negative issues for the candidate.

UPDATE: Cate doesn't own the land, except when it's convenient to own the land to vote in city elections. His explanations are getting hard to keep straight.

The following states will have primiaries or caucuses on Feb. 5th (number of Democratic delegates in parenthesis):

Alabama (60), Alaska caucuses (18), Arizona (67), Arkansas (47), California (440), Colorado caucuses (70), Connecticut (60), Delaware (23), Georgia (103), Idaho caucus (23), Illinois (185), Kansas caucus (41), Massachusetts (121), Minnesota caucuses (88), Missouri (88), Montana caucus (GOP), New Jersey (127), New Mexico caucus (38), New York (281), North Dakota caucuses (21), Oklahoma (47), Tennessee (85), Utah (29), West Virginia (GOP)

Here are the states for which a recent poll could be found, and the projected delegates if that were the outcome: