Topic: Politics

Sign of the Times: Montgomery County Republicans promote Kurita write-in campaign

October 6, 2008 |

"Write-In Kurita" stickers beside a John McCain figure at Montgomery County Republican Party headquarters

** National Rifle Association, a Key 2nd Amendment group, endorses Kurita in Write-In campaign

**Gray Sasser says the Dems “decided they were not going to let Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and his partisan allies hijack the Democratic Party’s primary process.”

Senator Rosalind Kurita recently annouced she would run a write-in campaign for the state Senate District 22 seat, launching a campaign from new headquarters at 1817 Madison Street.

Kurita won the primary race with a 19-vote edge over challenger Tim Barnes, who successfully challenged that election result and had the victory overturned by the state Democratic Executive Committee. The state body then ruled that the executive committees of the three counties (Montgomery, Stewart and Houston) that comprised Senate District 22 meet and vote on the two candidates. That vote, 61-4, gave Barnes a Democratic slot on the November ballot.

Gray Sasser, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, in a statement released today, said:

After all the talk of mythical smoke-filled rooms, the time has come to clear the air. As readers of (this newspaper) already know, the Democratic State Executive Committee, after almost eight hours of testimony at an open meeting attended by the public and press, decided that the District 22 state Senate primary election between Sen. Rosalind Kurita and Tim Barnes was “incurably uncertain.

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Senator Kurita launches Write-in campaign at new Madison Street headquarters

By Beth Robinson | October 5, 2008 |

Voters picked up yard signs and bumper stickers at new Write-in Kurita Montgomery County Headquarters

This unprecedented decision prompted Kurita to support her constituents by beginning a write-in campaign.  Are her supporters willing to go to the extra effort of typing in her name, K-U-R-I-T-A, on the voting machines in November? As with Senator Obama, the Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Kurita welcomes votes from all Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who feel she will be the best candidate for the job. Her campaign slogan is “In America, we don’t steal elections.”

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Top Tennessee Hispanic Democrat to speak at Barack Obama house party

By Terry McMoore | October 5, 2008 |

Fabian Bedne, Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democratic Party Chairman

Fabian Bedne, Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democratic Party Chairman, will be the guest speaker at a House Party for Barack Obama on Tuesday, October 7 at the Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters, 534 Madison St., Clarksville, TN, starting at 6:00 p.m.

Fabian Bedne has been featured various times in news print, television and recently spoke to Latino Democrats from around the country as an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Bedne is a board member of Habitat for Humanity, founding member of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the Tennessee Hispanic Voters Coalition PAC, founding member and President of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats, candidate for Metro Council, and member of the Executive Committee of the Davidson County Democratic Party.

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BBC stops at Montgomery County Democratic, Republican headquarters

By Christine Anne Piesyk | October 4, 2008 |

BBC radio's Rowan Bridge interviews Clarksville for Obama chairman Terry McMoore at MCDP headquarters

When the BBC Election Bus pulled into Clarksville, its first news stop was the Montgomery County Democratic Party headquarters on Madison Street, where a steady stream of area resident surged in and out, registering to vote and picking up Obama/Biden signs from a rapidly depleting stockpile (more signs due in Tuesday, October 7).

The BBC Election bus originated its trip in Los Angeles, and is working its way across middle America, talking to everyday Americans and catching the Presidential and Vice-presidential debates along the way. The bus trips end on Long Island, but the teams will continue to feed political news through the election on November 4.

MCDP Chairman Gene Lewis, State Senate Candidate Tim Barnes and Clarksville for Obama Chairman Terry McMoore welcomed the BBC team to Clarksville. «Read the rest of this article»

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Dover Democrats speak out at Stewart County Obama house party

By Turner McCullough Jr. | October 4, 2008 |

Stewart County officials speak up for change in Washington. Detail local impact of decisions made in nation’s capital city.

Nan and Jim Robertson offer refreshments for their Obama House Party

Saturday, September 27th, Nan and Jim Robertson opened their Stewart County home to host a Stewart County Democrats for Obama House Party. On the patio garden of the lovely wooded residence, Stewart County Democratic Party officials spoke of reasons everyone feels its time for a change in the way Washington does business. Local citizens are suffering under the wave of neglect and disregard that signifies the Bush Administration’s approach to government.

Jim welcomed the guests to their home and encouraged everyone to incorporate ‘green technology’ and businesses into their daily habits. He spoke of alternative energy and fuels that offer real opportunity to realign our foreign oil dependence equation and help improve the environment while giving a boost to our economy as well.

Stewart County Democratic Party President Thurston Smith stated that Federal and state government cutbacks have a disproportionate impact upon the local population. Economic realities are readily felt here and the citizens aren’t fooling themselves to these real facts. Jobs are not increasing and those that are here are not secure. Benefits are costly and inadequate. He told of how some Dover citizens, who had once confided not being willing to vote for women candidates or a candidate of a different ethnicity, have since come back to declare that they no longer feel that way and that they support and will be voting for Senator Obama in November. Stewart County is a small county, economically speaking, and the economy has soured there. «Read the rest of this article»

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Reflections on the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee’s overturning Senator Kurita’s primary victory

October 4, 2008 |

Senator Rosalind Kurita

Recent reports from Democratic Party officials describing the vote at the Democratic Party Executive Committee Hearing that overturned the election of Rosalind Kurita in the Democratic primary vote have been rife with “spin,” omissions, and outright lies.  Party officials claim they voted to overturn the election because it was “Incurably Uncertain.”  This means, in their opinion, too many Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Senator Kurita.  They assert there was a grand Republican Party conspiracy to reelect Senator Kurita.  Presumably this was a secret conspiracy, which is convenient, since one can hardly be expected to produce actual evidence if it is “secret.”

What angers democratic voters such as myself, is not that Republicans would choose to vote for a Democrat, but that leaders of my own party would overturn an election on the basis of such flimsy evidence because they did not agree with the results.  However, if the public examines the record of the proceedings recorded by the court recorder at the hearing, they will see for themselves how weak and inconsistent the evidence for such a conclusion is.  Given how incredibly weak the evidence presented to justify overturning the election is, the only other rational conclusion is that the executive committee was not interested in the evidence and had other motives.  This is why I am pleased that Senator Kurita has chosen to sue the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s action as unconstitutional.  If the court agrees to hear the case, the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s evidence will have to meet the standards of a fair and impartial court, not one which clearly was not interested in the facts. «Read the rest of this article»

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McCain/Palin campaign items available at MCRP headquarters

By Christine Anne Piesyk | October 3, 2008 |

As the USA enters the home stretch of the presidential campaign, the Montgomery County Republican Party has a variety of McCain/Palin yard signs, bumper stickers and buttons available at their headquarters at 1820 B Madison Street, in Clarksville. A spokesperson for the party said the local headquarters also carries campaign hats, and T-shirts for McCain/Palin as well as Women for Palin.

Halfway through the four debates of this campaign, which overlaps the largest fiscal crisis in the country since the Great Depression, the campaigns are heating up, readying for the remaining two debates:

• October 7: Presidential Debate  at Belmont University in Nashville, moderated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw

• October 15: Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, moderated by CBS’s Bob Schieffer

The Republican headquarters is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m, and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The office is closed on Sunday. To contact the Republican Party, call 931-647-4477.

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Biden/Palin debate: Biden takes it, Palin “better than expected” but no home run

By Christine Anne Piesyk | October 3, 2008 |

Montgomery County Democratic Party

Montgomery County Republican Party

The Joe Biden/Sarah Palin debate is over and history. The verdict: Biden held his own, scored particularly well in areas of foreign policy, and, I believe, won the debate. Palin, after a spate of blundered interviews and disingenuous flubbed questions from “Katie” (Couric) and “Charlie” (Gibson), did better than expected but still managed at best a break even score, up from her previous level — which was sounding ridiculous.

Watching the man/woman voter scrolling scoreboard at the bottom of the TV screen, a tally of sorts based on Ohio voters, both candidates managed to find sharp and prolonged spikes of interest, catching the attention of listeners not by political affiliation but rather by the issues that were being discussed. What were those topics: the economy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy, the economy and the economy. The Economy encompassed middle class tax relief, health care/insurance, jobs, gas prices, and the high cost of higher education. «Read the rest of this article»

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