What a political genius he is. His thinking is pure strategery. If he says its Tank Vs R Larry, well it must be so.

Actually, Steve if you read Brian's Blog correctly, he only phone interviewed one Commissioner. That one Commissioner being Greg Lambert. All other questioning was conducted face to face on Saturday at the Fifth District forum. The only Commissioner he was unable to contact was Thomas "Tank" Strickland.

Apparently BH will not be supporting the Republican nominee for County Clerk. Does this help or hurt Foster Arnett?

The last thing any candidate needs is a kind word from BH.

It worked for Amy Henley Vandergriff! That mention of the blog was what won it for her, wasn't it? -- s.

For the record, I supported Lee (for better government and better stories), but picked Shouse to win in your district.

Have you considered calling Ed to account for his support of the Knoxville Convention Center?

Never has so much public money been wasted with no public figure held accountable and made to pay. -- s.

Sandra normally picks female candidates but attempts to endorse the ones that She believes will win. Normally Sandra is wrong, Thanks for pointing it out, Steve.

We all realized what a tough job that predictions were this time. My error was not sensing the extent of the voters' anger.

I tried to parse it -- yes, voters are angry at Moore, but not so much at Owings; yes, they are mad at fee officers who hired back their term-limited bosses, but that's not enough to prevent Mike Lowe from beating Ballard, especially when John Whitehead withdrew his support of Ballard.

It was not an election to play the odds. It was an election to sense the anti-good ol' boy mood. I misread the mood, therefore missed more than half of the predictions. -- s.

While Sandra missed on many of her predictions, she is certainly not alone. Super Tuesday sent shockwaves through many offices and homes. Through her reporting, Sandra spends a lot of time talking to "insiders". The "insiders" didn't see this one coming. Why should they? Voter apathy is embarrasingly high in this country, usually.

However, there is one important thing to always remember about elections. . .. a truly mad voter will turn out every time. You know them when they show up at the polls. They'll wait in the longest line cause they want to vote against that "dadgum S.O.B.". The events of the past 18 months have truly made people mad, and that anger is directed at anyone currently serving up there in "gubmit". A lot of folks just didn't sense the depth of that anger.

We are down to 5 candidates..Bolus,Ballard,Sisk,Witt & Jones..that can be tied to Black Wednesday.

None are a sure thing

Because nobody knows what the voters are going to do.

How many are going to show up & what kind of mood they will be in when they get there.

Tho the presidential voter was a factor in the landslide..the clean up the mess vote was deep & not a funtion of the presidential voter with change fever.

For voters this county race is not partisan.

Its about competence & doing things right.

Fact is,if a Democratic candidate thinks that working the primary list is enough because its a democratic year or wave the bloody shirt shouting its scoobie..lumpy..& pinkston..its them crooked Republicans that done it.

Do that Democrats & lose.

Knock on every door..talk to every voter.

Tell em what ya gonna do..how ya gonna do it

AND

I'm gonna do it right.

Yeah the voters were mad not like the time that GDrinnen fired them up against Campfield. Right?

Not many voters were mad at Campfield in 2006. It was hard to motivate an uprising against the incumbent. Drinnen ran a good race, though the vote totals didn't show it. I seem to recall the Rep trounced his Democrat opponent in the general election as well.

Hey "Anonymous", why don't you drop the secrecy and come out from the shadows. Take responsibility for your comments.

CBT is right. They weren't mad at Campfield. Check his vote totals. I can't explain it, but they (for the most part) aren't mad at him.

stacey's ground game is this & it works

stacey knocks on doors..24/7 & is very charming

then goes to downwest the second the doors open for early vote & doesnt leave till it closes.

i'm a liberal democrat...me & stacey dont agree on anything

if I could figure out how to beat him I would.

but he's a honorable opponent & i like him.

who comes to your door with a grin is the better choice.

That's the big fallacy of door-knocking campaigns.

I have to agree with Bill to an extent here (not necessarily about the liking Campfield part).

In business, you have to ask for the order. I'm constantly amazed by how many salesmen don't. They go on and on about how great their product or service is, and how great their company is, but they never ask for the order to close the sale.

Half the people don't read the paper. Half of the other half gets what little news they get in the first seven minutes of the evening TV news before the twenty minutes of weather and sports and lifestyle/oddball news about shoes made from recycled styrofoam. The rest are blissfully unaware and don't even know there's an election.

If nothing else, the few who actually get out to vote might remember the guy who knocks on their door and asks for their vote, i.e. the guy who asks for the order.

Another fallacy of door knocking

If you are down ballot its not volunteers,on the porch,that impress voters...it's the candidate.

The new wave campaign tactic is to send volunteers out in pairs or by themselves with street maps & a list to knock a neighborhood.The campaigns are thinking quanity over quality...quality being the candidate on the porch.

The campaigns want to tell their contributers & the press..
We've knock on 1,000 doors.

I think Malone's got it right

Malone's tactic is..the candidate & all the volunteers work the same block.

The key to this is when a volunteer finds sombody home..they put the candidate on that porch.The candidate askes for the vote

Malone does agree with Victor on this tactic..go in one part of the district one day another the next.

I would tweek that a little..and target a ward...hit that ward hard..& should be a large turn out ward..then put the candidate & a ton of volunteers @ that ward election day.

candidates been on the porch...ton of volunteers gives impression of winning..then candidate seals the deal..win the ward big