Today's "Election"

A commenter asked the other day if I had anything to say on today's "election." Well, first of all, it's not an election; it's a primary. An election is when voters select someone to represent them in a government office. A primary, on the other hand, is when a party winnows down the field of candidates to one nominee of that party to run in an election.

Elections are, in Tennessee, the province of the Counties. But thanks to the power and monopoly of the Democratic and Republican Parties, we also handle their primaries for them. Why should they pay, when they can foist the cost onto voters?

Since they are intra-party, I tend not to pay a lot of attention to local primaries.

On the Republican side, they wasted no time in Senate District 29, former home of John Ford. He was barely indicted before the Shelby County Republican Party had already put forth Terry Roland to replace him. No viable or sensible reason was given, they just wanted to get a marker on the seat to forestall competition and to get word out they considered it "in play." I don't know Roland, but he's been campaigning as the kind of guy who puts principles over party. Given that he's the number four guy locally in the Republican party, you'll forgive my skepticism of his claims.

On the Democratic side, we have three current State Representatives vying for the seat, and a couple of Democratic activists and workers; something like eight candidates in all. I've said in the past that when you have a lot of folks running for opportunities in a party, it's either a sign of disarray and struggle for control or of healthy competition by a large, vigorous party. It can also be a sign of greed.

I think it's no accident that three long-time Representatives want to "trade up" to the Senate. It's a lucrative position, as the Tennessee Waltz and TennCare investigations are showing. There's more power, too. Who wouldn't want their hands on that?

The only thing I'll watch is to see how the Democratic vote splits amongst the candidates. Which Representative gets the nod? I'm also curious to see how Ophelia Ford does. According to this week's Memphis Flyer, she got a last-minute campaign put together that is fairly impressive (and expensive). How she places against the others will be a small barometer of the Fords' fortunes. I say small because she is a political neophyte despite her lineage.

INSTANT UPDATE: Henri Brooks, a Representative, and Ophelia Ford, a Ford, go into a runoff. How about that Shelby County. You get to pay for that, too. No one did better in the Democratic primary than a third of the vote; most did half that or less. Apparently being a Ford does still count for something.

Of course, if Henri Brooks does win a promotion, then we'll pay for the special election to replace her. Don't you love it?