TN State Senator Jackson proposes bill to ban "Girls Gone Wild" ads (again)

More evidence that the Tennessee legislature is completely unable to address things that actually matter.

A proposal that would ban late-night TV ads showing half-naked young women is advancing in the Senate — again.

The measure sponsored by Democratic Sen. Doug Jackson of Dickson failed the last two legislative sessions. But it passed the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday 8-0, with one abstention.

The companion bill is scheduled to be heard by the Criminal Practice and Procedure Subcommittee next week.

Unless you have a bill that addresses government waste, health care, jobs, infant mortality, etc. - you know, important things - don't bother. Spare us the ink and paper that has to be used to print crap like this.

Ophelia Ford is in the hospital again

From WSMV:

State Sen. Ophelia Ford is back in a Memphis hospital this morning.

According to Channel 4's sister station, WMC, the Memphis democrat has missed the entire special legislative session on Capitol Hill. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey says Ford missed the first week with flu-like symptons, and that she's spent the last two or three days in the hospital.

According to Ramsey, Ford's lack of attendance had little impact on key votes because none of them were close.

Ford's 2010 attendance record is a familiar pattern. Two years ago, she missed most of the legislative session because of a bleeding ulcer.

You might recall that she was hospitalized only a little bit ago, and was also encouraged by her family to enter rehab. From a 2007 story in the Commercial Appeal:

Ophelia Ford has drawn attention to her behavior by missing multiple Senate sessions, blaming her absences on chronic anemia. She raised eyebrows on May 14 in a legislative committee meeting with an tirade against the state Department of Children's Services commissioner and three other state officials.

A day later, she reportedly fell off a bar stool in the concierge lounge at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel, sending her to an overnight stay in the hospital. A worker at the hotel told ambulance dispatchers that the guest, reportedly Ford, was "extremely intoxicated," according to the recording of the 911 emergency call.

OH! So that's what Yarbro has been doing!

So maybe I've been too hard on Yarbro? Dru's Vues, Too tells us that Jeff Yarbro recently attended a fundraiser for Middle Tennessee's Hispanic Democrats. Who of all people did he run into? Why, his opponent, incumbent Senator Douglas Henry.
Dru's Vues goes on to report:

The Senator's challenger, 32-year old Jeff Yarbro, met up with him and they shook hands. Later, Yarbro told Dru's Vues, "I have decided to enter the race for state senate in the 21st district. I'm very excited about it. It's going great. We've got a tremendous response and a lot of people have come out of the woodwork to volunteer. A lot of people have expressed interest in helping out in the campaign going door to door with me across the district. I'm excited about it. My favorite thing has really been the chance to talk to voters about what's going on in the state and why we need to see something a lot different coming out of the state legislature. "

Sen. Douglas Henry's lengthy list of supporters; is Yarbro even trying?

Henry's campaign issues a press release today that highlights the depth of his support among the political establishment:

NASHVILLE – State Senator Douglas Henry is kicking off his re-election campaign with an outpouring of strong support from a host of major state and local leaders, including Governor Phil Bredesen, key members of the Governor’s Cabinet, every serving Democratic Senator from across the state, 24 Metro Council members and dozens of local and civic leaders from every corner of Davidson County. The Metro council members supporting Senator Henry include 16 of the 18 who serve in his state senate district.

I previously wrote a blog entry about how Sen. Henry has made a lot of friends in the TN political establishment. This press release confirms what I already knew.

The question is, what does this mean for Yarbro? Is this going to make it harder for him to get endorsements? It seems like they are becoming scarce.

The more that I think about this, the more that I'm coming to realize that the speculation about Yarbro is true. Maybe he's just running to get his name out there to make it easier to run when Henry actually retires. He hasn't updated his Twitter account since he announced. I haven't heard of any public events he has held yet. I haven't received any emails from his campaign since I signed up on their distribution list. He hasn't updated his website much at all. Is this guy even trying?

Could Yarbro already be stagnating?

So we know that Jeff Yarbro - running for the state senate in the 21st district - had a great start, as I mentioned in a previous entry. He raised over $50,000 in one day and picked up a lot of press attention. However, recent developments may have put a damper on his campaign, perhaps even rendering it a quixotic endeavor.

First, the "establishment" has come out of the woodwork in support of the incumbent, Douglas Henry. Given that Henry has served in the Senate for around thirty years, it goes without saying that he's been able to make friends in high places. Gov. Bredesen will be hosting a fund-raising for Henry in early November. He's gotten statements of support from several members of the General Assembly and Nashville Metro Council as well. Granted, these statements don't mean anything by themselves, but they are indicative of the depth of his support from those already in government. Now, Yarbro has some big names on his side as well, but it remains to be seen who is actually going to be on Henry's campaign team. Given the man's contacts and experience you can expect him to put together a Class A group.

Second, Henry is independently wealthy. He can fund his own race if he wanted to. Money isn't an issue for his campaign, and he has indicated that he's willing to spend whatever it takes. Though Yarbro's early money pull was admirable, it has since stagnated. It's been over a week and to date he's only pulled in around $54,000. Much of the original money probably came from friends and family, meaning that he doesn't exactly have grassroots financial support from those in the 21st. That's to be expected, given his likely low-level name recognition.

Then there's the matter of his apparent campaign strategy. If his early statements are at all indicative of things to come, he might be taking a "gloves on" approach. Yarbro has said that the race isn't about Sen. Henry, but if he wants to win he's going to have to make it about Henry. Residents of the 21st aren't going to throw out Henry just for the sake of electing a younger state senator. I'm not saying that he should go into full throttle attack mode - that would probably alienate a lot of people who have habitually supported Henry. The "new blood" approach is a decent one, but it needs to be part of a larger narrative. Yarbro's campaign should look into Henry's more recent legislative record. What exactly has he done for the district lately? If you can make the argument that Henry hasn't been an effective legislator, you'd be able to not only to paint the incumbent as idle/useless, but that would also carry a tacit hit on his age. There a lot of avenues that Yarbro can take, but being overly deferential isn't one of them.

Jeff Yarbro supports "policing" the internet?

You have to give Jeff Yarbro some big props. Since announcing his primary challenge to incumbent state Senator Douglas Henry only a few days ago, he has amassed over $50,000 and sparked a flurry of blogger interest. His website is fantastic. The best part about it? He actually has an issues section with information regarding - GASP! - where he stands on the issues. That's a lot more than I can say for Tennessee's gubernatorial candidates (except Ward Cammack - props to him too).

However, one thing on that page needs some clarifying:

Policing the Parentless Neighborhood of the Internet: New technologies have left our children more vulnerable than ever to sexual predators and strangers. Too often, parents cannot keep up with who their children are meeting online. Adults who pose as children on the web to prey on children should be sent to jail, and our police forces must be prepared to police this virtual space and to insert a responsible adult presence in the often parentless Internet. We also must teach our children how to be safe online just as we teach them how to be safe crossing the street. [Italics added]

I'm kind of confused. I understand the need to go after pedophiles, but when you say ". . . our police forces must be prepared to police this virtual space and to insert a responsible adult presence in the often parentless Internet" it kind of sounds like you want the government to regulate the internet. What the hell does a "a responsible adult presence" in the internet even mean? You might want to reword that part, Jeff.

TN state senators and their Twitter accounts

I took the liberty of compiling a list of Tennessee state senators with Twitter accounts. Notice any changes that need to be made? Did I miss any accounts? I will be updating this on a routine basis, so please feel free to give me a heads up in the comments section. You can find Twitter accounts for state representatives here, and for Nashville Metro Council members here.