Mayor
I am rather pleasantly surprised that Karl Dean won the close race for Nashville's next mayor tonight. Whether it was Bob Clement's attack ads over property taxes or his pledge to seek the Summer Olympics Games for Nashville, his campaign met a brick wall tonight.
Dean, a relative unknown in the Nashville political scene jumped into the spotlight with early ads highlighting the three-prong platform of education, public safety and economic development, in that order. Even without a massive war chest (other than the money he and his wife put up themselves), he somehow managed to beat a system stacked heavily in the "Good Ol' Boys" favor.
I can be clear in saying that I do not think ill of Bob Clement as a former congressman or as a private citizen. His campaign staff learned the valuable lesson that the public only has so much of a stomach for negativity in local races, a line that was crossed shortly after the first general election forced a runoff.
Council
In a recent interview with 90.3 WPLN Nashville Public Radio, Saletta A. Holloway said that she would challenge the election in court if any of the term-limited council members were to win an At-Large seat tonight. But, she said, she would challenge the results only if she lost in her bid for the council seat.
I firmly believe that if her claim would be valid if she lost the election, it would likewise be valid if she would have won. To pick and choose justice to serve your own benefit is being less than honorable. While I doubt her stance played at all into her fate on election night, voters saw fit that she not be elected to serve in the Metro Council.
The target of her ire will be Charlie Tygard, the only candidate of the three to survive the run-off. Ronnie Greer and J.B. Loring will not have enough votes to make the top four slots. Holloway will likely model her complaint after this one, alleging that all three candidates should be disqualified for office. She would have made the cut if it were to happen, likely giving her plenty of reason to make good on her threat to pursue legal action.
I am sure this is great news for the local television stations.