I will begin by simply saying that I am not an informed voter for local politics. To a fair degree, I would wager that most Nashville residents fall into the same category. Because I work with Web and print design, I tend to gravitate more to the campaigns that have the better yard signs and Web sites. I am only familiar with the politics of one candidate because I spent a cold November morning in 2002 planting road signs for him and our recently re-elected Governor down a stretch of West Tennessee highway.

I look for a few simple things when it comes to a campaign Web site. First, the issues link has to be easily accessible from the home page. Without issues (unless the strategy revolves around smear), there really isn't a campaign. Tell me where you stand on topics like education, health care, civil rights and economic development and then offer a plan for how you will tackle those issues. Secondly, give me your credentials to hold an elected office. Holding a prior public office and educational background sits far ahead of things like "successful business owner." Beyond those two things, everything else (pictures of the spouse, kids and dog) is just filler and soft material to make the campaign more human.

Below are links to the candidates, in alphabetical order, for mayor of Nashville. I've also included my short quips about their sites based on snap judgement and a bit of "looking under the hood" for a technical perspective.

Bob Clement

Web site: www.bobclement.com

The eight-term U.S. congressman is winning the important Battle of the Yard Sign, but the Web site falls short on being particularly innovative. It is does have a clean, rounded feel to it, but totally skips any attempt at being accessible. Spanish-speaking visitors have a whopping one page, single paragraph greeting from Clement. The campaign posts (surely screened) comments from citizens in the "Idea Factory" to offer some feeling of community involvement in the campaign. I prefer this over the blatant pandering through Facebook, Myspace, etc.

Issue Topics

  • Schools
  • Public Safety & Security
  • Business Opportunities
  • Job Opportunities
  • Community Transportation

David Briley

Web Site: www.davidbriley.com

The councilman is serving his seventh year on the Metro Council, being voted "Best Councilman" by the Nashville Scene for three of those years. If you go looking for a concise Issues list, you will end up disappointed. I picked the main topics from his three-paragraph letter on the subject. Labeled "The Progressive Candidate" in many media circles, his Web site might be way too far ahead of the curve. The design itself is clean albeit small (my eyes struggle to read long blocks of the tiny text), but the major drawback rests in the use of Adobe's Flash. In fact, the entire Web site is one big Flash file. I can only imagine how long it takes to load on slower connections, and is virtually invisible to a search engine trying to index the visible content. His "Green Mayor" initiative gets the most press, but only shows up on the Web site when attempting to return to the home page. He opts for profiles on Myspace and Facebook to connect to voters.

Issue Topics

  • "... promote neigborhoods and community ..."
  • "... fiscal responsibility ..."
  • "... open and ethical government ..."

Buck Dozier

Web Site: www.dozierformayor.com

The former fire chief and three-year Councilman at Large is right on up there in the Battle of the Yard Sign, giving Nashville some of the tallest political signs it may have ever seen since the days of the rolling bands, barbecues and megaphones. His Web site reflects a bit of that over-the-top campaigning, complete with photo-realistic images of pencils, letters and coffee cups. From a visual standpoint, its outstanding. When it comes to actually using it for research, it takes a little bit of time to wrangle with. The monospaced type fits the overall theme, but does not do much for readability. He includes several downloads under his "Buck on the Issues" headings to give a glimpse as to what his first days in office would entail.

Issues List

  • Education
  • Jobs
  • Public Safety
  • Seniors

Howard Gentry

Web Site: www.howardgentry.com

The five-year vice mayor of Nashville is likely banking on his experience of holding the number two office in Metro to carry him through the race. I just hope his Web site is not a large component of it. It gets points for being easiest to read, but lacks in detail about some of the topics listed in his letter to voters. His "ground game" is only visible in a couple of neighborhoods with it being virtually invisible in the few I drive through to and from work. The Marvin Gaye song on his MySpace profile is a nice touch.

Issues List

  • Education
  • Arts
  • Music & Entertainment

Karl Dean

Web Site: www.karldean.info

The eight-year law director for Metro's campaign identified name recognition as being the biggest obstacle to his canidacy. They went out to buy television slots unusually early to handle it, but the Web site does not even have a heading for his biography. You would have to read a bit on the home page to notice a "More" link to to get the short biography. The flash video that loads when you first visit the site (at full volume) tells more about his candidacy and the Shelby Avenue bridge. I would guess that most folks hit the pause button before he finishes his first sentence, however. The site itself features a clean layout, but could have used a bit more thought into selecting the main sections of the site.

Issues List

  • Education
  • Public Safety
  • Economic Development
  • Environment

Kenneth Eaton

Web Site: www.kennetheaton.com

The business owner takes a two-step approach to presenting his campaign Web site to voters. He splits his issues and biography between citizen and business interests. His personal biography is fairly short, while his business biography outlines how he has made his fortunes in life and his expansive commercial and residential real estate
portfolio. When looking at the issues, he again splits them between the two groups. If he had taken this approach a bit further, his site might not seem quite as "thrown together" as it does. He misspells the name of the Nashville Kats on one of his issues pages while identifying them as part of his overall sports priorities. With the elections coming up later this summer, the "coming soon" content may arrive far too late to make much of a difference.

Issues List (Citizen)

  • Schools
  • Police
  • Seniors
  • Poverty
  • Roads
  • Middle Class
  • Public Events
  • Parking

Issues List (Business)

  • Taxes
  • Finance
  • Commerce
  • Tourism
  • The Arts
  • Labor
  • Construction
  • Sports

Of course, all of this reminds me that I need to change my address on my voter registration record.