Thompson Gets Veep Talk
Thompson Gets Veep Talk -- All the Thompson cheerleaders are talking about it, including former Thompson staffer and blogger Rich Galen and Thompson's chief advocate Congressman Zach Wamp. Wamp told radio listeners that Thompson would make a great Vice-Presidential pick and that he believes John McCain is now the GOP front-runner. Wamp says a Thompson endorsement is unlikely, with supporters likely split between McCain and Mike Huckabee. Wamp said may supporters probably won't fall to Romney, but Congressman Marsha Blackburn could be one of those going back to Romney. More here.
With Fred Out How Will TN Go? -- The Commercial Appeal looks at the strength of each of the candidates picking up support and notes the TN connections for each of the Republican candidates. Huckabee, from neighboring Arkansas, has former Tennessee GOP chairman Chip Saltsman running his campaign. Romney is backed by GOP financier Ted Welch of Nashville. McCain campaigned for Sen. Bob Corker here only 14 months ago. For the Democrats, pundits speculate that the Clinton campaign may be placing more emphasis on the state - as a sign of a Southern state that Hillary can win. Bill Clinton's speech here the opening of a Hillary campaign office and ad blitz show the importance of the state to Hillary's campaign, especially if she loses to Barack Obama in South Carolina.
Herenton Still Under Fed Microscope -- The FBI continues to investigate business dealings in Memphis. Now they are on the trail of a contractor who after giving Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton $50,000 ended up with some contract work for the Memphis Area Transit Authority. The Commercial Appeal that found that Moon paid the mayor $50,000 in a private land deal after landing $702,000 in no-bid city road design contracts. Moon says he has done nothing wrong and the feds wouldn't reveal anymore details about their secret investigation to the newspaper.
The Fight Continues in Knox Co -- It looks like the legacy of the County Commission's violation of the state's Open Meeting laws continues. Herb Moncier, a local attorney, has sued two of the County Commissioners with the charge that they lied while they were on the stand during the Open Meeting lawsuit last fall. Commissioners also opposed an idea that would put on the ballot an amendment to the Knox Co. charter to prohibit County employees from serving on the Commission.
Nashville School Members Wants Appointed Spots -- Metro School Board member David Fox says he would be willing to give up his elected position on that body to move to a school board appointed by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean. Fox called on Gov. Bredesen to approve a plan that would allow the Metro Mayor to appoint members of the School Board after a string of non-compliance with No Child Left Behind. Mayor Karl Dean seems open to the idea, but it's unlikely to immediately become a political reality although in this year's Report on Schools by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber called for "systemic interventions… that may be considered unconventional or even radical" in the system.
Nashville Voter Rolls Probably Weren't Copied -- Police found no evidence that harddrives were copied on the laptop computer stolen from the Davidson Co. Election Commission which contained a listing of all 337,000 registered voters and their Social Security numbers. An analysis performed by the department's Computer Crimes detectives concluded that the computers hadn't even been turned on since they were stolen, but that might leave the possibility - however unlikely given the circumstances - they were still copied with complex imaging software.
