Early voting started today, here are my votes

Early voting sites are found here; you have until two weeks from tomorrow.

As they appear on the ballot:

GOVERNOR - Mike McWherter  - Yeah, I haven't been excited about ANY gubernatorial candidate from ANY party since I voted to re-elect his father in 1990.  He's a nice guy when he's not playing to right-wingers who will never vote for him.  He's still better than the Pilot Oil guy, the guy that left Saks Direct abruptly.

THE RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH AMENDMENT - YES - I was going to vote no, thinking it was a silly and unnecessary amendment until brother Neal provided some interesting reasons to vote yes, so please do so.

US HOUSE -DISTRICT 9 - STEVE COHEN - Like you hadn't figured THAT out a long time ago, right?  If I have to tell you why, then I presume that you just moved here.

TN HOUSE - DISTRICT 93 - MIKE KERNELL - He is second in seniority only to Lois DeBerry and knows the Capitol like few others.  Plus, he's my friend of nearly 30 years.  He is as liberal as I am, usually, but listens to EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE.  That is a good thing.

 REFERENDUM ON CONSOLIDATION - YES - I've already told you why, and that should be enough.  If it isn't, read the damn Charter yourself.  THEN make up your mind.

CITY ORDINANCE NO. 5345 - NO - I understand why Jim Strickland proposed this ordinance that partially reverses City Charter changes we passed in 2007; he believes that City elections will be ignored if forced to be held at the same time as the County and State elections in even-numbered years.  School Board elections give him some evidence on this.  However, people voted for this for a reason: to save money.  This would also repeal staggered terms, but keep the term limits.  I say no, because I like the staggered terms idea and this saves money.

CITY ORDINANCE NO. 5347 - YES - This extends the residency requirements for working for the City of Memphis so that they need only be County residents instead of just City residents.  I believe this is an acceptable compromise, even though I voted for the amendment in 2007 requiring City residence for City workers.  It has proved unworkable, as the pool is just not big enough, despite what Councilors Ware and Halbert would have you believe.  Vote YES.

MCS BOARD AT-LARGE POSITION 2 - REV. KENNETH T. WHALUM, JR. - I don't always agree with him (especially on paddling, that's too 1953 for 2010) but he seems to be the one member of the MCS Board who is willing to question Superintendent Kriner Cash.  He is the best of the three candidates running for the position.

In Races for which I CANNOT vote:

US HOUSE -DISTRICT 7 - GREG RABIDOUX - Look, we know he's up against it facing Blackburn, but he and his Shelby County crew are busting their butts.  Not only that, she may face a looser district in two years because it will have to get LESS GOP in order to make others MORE GOP if the GOP controls re-districting (which we hope does NOT happen).

In the local state House races, our Democratic incumbents facing a GOP opponent are, in addition to Kernell, JOHNNIE TURNER (85), BARBARA COOPER (86), JEANNE RICHARDSON (89), and LOIS DEBERRY (91).  Please vote for your Democratic Representative.

In the State Senate races, only OPHELIA FORD (29) is opposed among our Democrats, and her opponent, Robert Hill, is having legal problems of his own.  Yes, I want to re-elect the Senator.

Ivon Faulkner is challenging Senator Brian Kelsey (R) in Senate 31, but it is an uphill battle. There is so much I would like to say here, but suffice it to say that I would prefer that you vote for Faulkner in this race.

That's it, everything else is up to YOU, so go vote, even if you don't feel like it.  Don't like your choices in a given race? WRITE SOMEONE IN. I do it more often that you might think.