Early voting was at record levels in Tennessee. Perhaps it is partly because of more people becoming used to voting early. I don't think that huge turnouts necessarily bode well for Carr. We perhaps want a slightly increased turnout, but not one that includes too many of the low information voters.
Polling places that I passed today did not seem busy. Don't know if that was typical or not.
The main race that I was interested in was the Senate race. However, the question of retaining certain judges or not is also important. Although not in my district, the state Senate contest between Campfield and Briggs is one to be watched. Campfield is perhaps the most conservative member of the Tennessee Congress. He has received constant flak from liberals over the past few years. He especially has drawn the ire of the homosexual community, to the point of being refused service in one homosexual-owned eating establishment. He is the top target of liberals and (ahem) moderates in Tennessee.
I cast a protest vote against Bill Haslam for governor. He will win, but I took some pleasure in casting a vote for Mark “Coonrippy” Brown, who is running for governor to get back his beloved raccoon Rebekah, who was siezed by the state. Here are a couple of Coonrippy videos. The first one is a campaign speech. The second one is of him showering with Rebekah. (There are a lot of Coonrippy videos on the Web, including one of him doing the “Hillbilly Slide” as he dances with his raccoon Rebekah.)
Mark “Coonrippy” Brown's Campaign Speech
Mark “Coonrippy” Brown showers with his raccoon RebekahSome very early results:
Joe Carr 7,114 47.63%
Lamar Alexander 7,005 46.9%
George Shea Flinn 366 2.45%
Christian Agnew 164 1.1%
Brenda S. Lenard 132 0.88%
John D. King 86 0.58%
Erin Kent Magee 70 0.47%
http://elections.tn.gov/20140807.php?ByOffice=United States Senate