Some interesting bits on the horse race....
Tennessee is now among 16 states that have received paperwork for independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader to be placed on their ballots.
Tennessee is one of the best states as far as Independents and/or third parties making it onto the ballot goes. It's a model that I would love to see other states implement.
Tennessee law requires the signatures of 275 registered voters to qualify. The Nader/Gonzalez campaign submitted 584 signatures.
Given how the primaries went down, it should be interesting to see what, if any, impact Nader has in Tennessee and elsewhere.
Random trivia: According to a recent local talk radio straw poll, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader each got a few votes from listeners but Barack Obama got zero. IIRC, Cynthia McKinney got the most between the three (McCain won outright but that's not surprising as the station in general leans right). Just thought that was both odd and interesting.
- tnjen's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Front page
Comments
Tennessee ballot access
Tennessee ballot access rules are indeed some of the better ones in the country. (Link is PDF.)
I note that the ballot requirements for third parties have improved considerably from when I was dealing with this stuff in 1996 and 2000. Back then, a third party could only get on the ballot with signatures from 5% of the registered voters in each of Tennessee's 95 counties. Now you only need 2500 signatures statewide for a third party to get on the ballot.
The old requirement for independent candidates, though, was just 25 signatures statewide. Therefore, everybody who wasn't a D or an R just filed as an independent. The new requirement of 275 signatures isn't too difficult, though, as Nader has shown.
...for the rest of us
Now that you mention it
...I seem to recall the old rules for third parties (yuck). BTW, love your Dolly for President post! :)
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
A Pleasant Surprise.
As someone who's been a big fan of electoral reform, I'm glad to hear about the TN change. This is yet another issue where I've found myself on the outside of the Democratic Party in past years, and particular y this year.
Okay, which of us is going to run in Tennessee?
275 signatures?
That's an afternoon.
Can we let Colbert show us up?
Does anyone here think Nader's going to make the same numbers as '04?
Tennessee is safe for McCain
It's possible, then, that some disgruntled Democrats may see Nader as a protest vote, as our votes aren't going to count for much in the Presidential race anyway.
I live in a precinct that consistently goes 3-1 Republican - my vote almost never counts!
...for the rest of us
3-1! You must be in East TN
...like me. And yeah, McCain is so going to win here. TN is such an odd state when it comes to politics. The GOP hold on federal seats was one of the reasons I wanted Hillary so badly here -- she at least could've given it a go in the state. I was shocked that in my normally GOP county Clinton got about 3 times more votes than McCain on Super Tuesday and I'm pretty sure her total was higher than all GOP candidates combined.
Btw, IMO, some of the North Eastern counties are ready to turn blue. I've been watching the turnouts and the northern side of the mountains (Scott, Claiborne, Union, etc.) are ready with a little more work and the right candidates. The south side of the mountains **following the ridge line** (Hamblen, Grainger, Cocke etc.) are still the same.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
But...
Isn't that largely the point of third party candidacies in the United States, anyway? That is, to make a protest vote? The vast majority of folks who regularly vote for a third party are going to do it regardless of whether or not their state is battleground or "safe".
Nope, middle TN
Sumner County, approximately 25 miles north-northeast of downtown Nashville, aka redneck suburbia.
Nashville is a solidly blue city surrounded by increasingly red suburbs. Sumner County was reliably Democratic once until the suburbanites started moving in, particularly in the southern half of the county. My precinct was carved out of a larger precinct several years back when the McMansions started sprouting up. The road where I live, fortunately, is too hilly for much intense development.
...for the rest of us
Wow the suburb thing
...is exactly what's happening here too. The counties that are less affluent are bluer whereas the ones that are more suburban are redder.
I can't believe Middle TN has really turned liked that. 3-1 is Knox Co ratios! The suburbanites are just killing us. Hopefully, the down turn in affluent Evangelical power will help.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
Regarding east TN
I think you may be right. Democrats could make inroads in east Tennessee with the right candidates. East Tennessee Republicans aren't like the standard GOP profile; in some ways they resemble New England Republicans, many of whom have switched sides as the GOP slowly went insane.
East Tennessee Republicanism is a legacy of the region's support for the Union in the Civil War, and Lincoln's support of the region in return. The typical east Tennessee Republican harks back to old-school conservatism - strongly pro-business, yet moderate on many social issues. Occasionally, some east Tennessee Republicans are more liberal on social issues than west Tennessee Democrats. You don't find all that many Bible-thumpers among the east TN GOP; you're more likely to find nutjob Christianists in the Republican delegations of the suburbs of Nashville and Memphis (example being my state rep, the excreable Debra Maggert.)
...for the rest of us
Spot on
My SO comes from a generational GOP family here in the East. His grandfather was Judge/County Exec and his religion was Deist/Freemasonry. He still called democrats "Rebs" but by the end of his life he was supremely fed up with the GOP and probably would've converted. My SO did convert :) and since he's well known in our county and trusted amongst republicans, we are trying to figure out a way to utilize that and flip the county. I think it can be done since all the conditions you describe are correct in the North East rural areas. We're a very poor county but I think symbolically changing things here would be huge. We are also home to the one lone Independent State Senator who left the GOP.
And as far as freaky democrats Lincoln Davis comes to mind....
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
Not A Surprise
East TN is firmly a part of Appalachia, which doesn't vote along the exact same lines as many Southerners.
Indeed
We are a very strange mixture. Hell, we gave the world Andrew Jackson and he probably still best represents politics here. A Jacksonian Democrat is very appealing to most folks here -- regardless of official party affiliation. What's weirder is you can even get in some surprisingly progressive/liberal policies as long as you win the trust of the people.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!