Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund Backs Dodson in 18th District Race

The Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund is backing Stephenie Dodson in the March 26 Metro Council District 18 special election. Here are the releases from the candidate and the NNDF:

NASHVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD DEFENSE FUND
ENDORSES STEPHENIE DODSON

(NASHVILLE, March 9) -- Stephenie Dodson has received the endorsement of the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund in the March 26 special election for the Metro Council District 18 seat.

"I'm honored and humbled to receive the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund's endorsement," Dodson said. "Like them, I know our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods are the backbone of our great city. I won't forget that when I'm serving District 18 on Metro Council."

More on Dodson can be found at www.stepheniedodson.com. Early voting for the March 26 contest began Friday and goes through March 21 at the Metro Nashville Election Commission office (800 Second Ave. South).

The full text of the NNDF's announcement release is below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Additional Information
Contact Lane Easterly
At (615) 957-0969

NEIGHBORHOOD DEFENSE FUND
ENDORSES DODSON IN 18TH DISTRICT

The Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund has endorsed Stephenie Dodson for Metro CounciL in the 18th District Special Election.

"There are four well-qualified candidates in the 18th District race, but only one, Stephenie Dodson, has a proven track record of neighborhood involvement," said Lane Easterly, Treasurer of the NNDF.

"The support was overwhelming among our members for Stephenie’s candidacy," continued Easterly, "her 22 years of involvement with neighborhood and school issues gives her a knowledge and depth of experience in the 18th District that none of the other candidates match. She is clearly THE neighborhood candidate."

"Our neighborhoods are concerned about incompatible development, about better schools, about better police and fire protection, about improved services, about historic preservation, and many related issues," said Burkley Allen of the Hillsboro-West End neighborhood. "We can trust Stephenie to represent the wishes of the residents and neighborhoods, because she’s worked on these issues for 22 years and she’s been active in our neighborhood association."

"I believe Stephenie will make an excellent Council representative," said Ginger Hausser Pepper of the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood. "She’s been active in the community for years. She’s a tireless supporter of our public schools, served on the Eakin PTA Board for years where her children attended school. She was instrumental in helping preserve Eakin School as a founding member of the Friends of Eakin and through our conservation overlay. She’s knows the issues; she knows the neighborhoods; she will represent the wishes of the community."

The Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund is a group of neighborhood activists whose goal is to support candidates for office who are committed to protecting and preserving Nashville’s neighborhoods. The NNDF is not directly affiliated with any other organization or neighborhood association. Our members are active in their neighborhood associations and related organizations. Many serve in leadership roles.

Neighborhoods represented in the NNDF include:
Belle Meade
Belmont-Hillsboro
Cliffdale
Cherokee Park
Curreywood
Dodson Chapel/Central Pike
Donelson Hills
Edgehill
Edgefield
Germantown
Glencliff
Hermitage Hills
Hermitage Meadows
Hillsboro-West End
Jefferson St./ D.B. Todd
Kenner Manor
Lake Park
Lockeland Springs
Nashboro Woods
Priest Lake
Richland-West End
Salemtown
South Nashville
Stanford Estates
Sylvan Park
12South
Warner Park
White Bridge Road
Whitland
Woodland-in-Waverly
Woodlawn West

-end-

New Obama Ad On Cheney's Endorsement

Former Reagan Chief of Staff Is For Obama

And he has some choice words about Gov. Moosekiller.

76 American Nobel Prize Winners Endorse Obama

(Click here to download of a copy of the full letter with the names of those who signed it.)

During the administration of George W. Bush, vital parts of our country's scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support. The government's scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy.

We have watched Senator Obama's approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis in the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation's competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take -- through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research -- to meet the nation's and world's most urgent needs.

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Ken Adelman For Obama?!

The old saying that "politics makes strange bedfellows" never had truer meaning than the endorsement of Barack Obama by Ken Adelman. The self-described "con-con" has right-wing Republican credentials going back many years. From the New Yorker's George Packer:

Ken Adelman is a lifelong conservative Republican. Campaigned for Goldwater, was hired by Rumsfeld at the Office of Economic Opportunity under Nixon, was assistant to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld under Ford, served as Reagan’s director of arms control, and joined the Defense Policy Board for Rumsfeld’s second go-round at the Pentagon, in 2001. Adelman’s friendship with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and their wives goes back to the sixties, and he introduced Cheney to Paul Wolfowitz at a Washington brunch the day Reagan was sworn in.

In recent years, Adelman and his friends Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz fell out over his criticisms of the botching of the Iraq War. Still, he remains a bona-fide hawk (“not really a neo-con but a con-con”) who has never supported a Democrat for President in his life. Two weeks from now that’s going to change: Ken Adelman intends to vote for Barack Obama. He can hardly believe it himself.

Why is he voting for Obama? Temperament and judgment. For his explanation, click here for the rest of Packer's post.

Postscript: In a separate post Adelman had this to say about experience and the McCain campaign's scorched earth tactics:

The Republican handling of the war made me value “experience” far less. If Cheney, Rumsfeld & Powell are the epitome of experience, I’ll take the alternative. They’ve given experience a bad name.

Further thought: McCain’s campaign soured me a lot. His hiring of the Bush attack squad, South Carolina 2000, made me view this honorable man as heading a dishonorable effort. And that’s still the case. It’s pretty disgusting, what he’s doing...

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From Time's Mark Halperin:

The decision is not only symbolic but, in terms of timing, one of great tactical importance. Powell is a brand unto himself in American politics, and clearly transcends the media's tendency to hype endorsements more than their actual importance to voters. However, the indisputable benefit that Powell brings Obama is that the former Secretary of State and general is sure to block out any chance McCain has of winning the next two or three days of news coverage, as the media swoons over the implications of the choice. It is simple political math: McCain has 15 days to close a substantial gap, and he will now lose at least one fifth of his total remaining time.

I Thought Picking Sarah Palin Did That

Newt Gingrich on Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama:

"What that just did in one sound bite...is it eliminated the experience argument."

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Sean Braisted nails it in his reaction to the Colin Powell endorsement of Barack Obama:

As cross party endorsement after cross party endorsement shows, Obama has shown to have the intellect and temperament necessary to rule this country. Yes, McCain has served with some level of distinction for most of his life, but the Presidency is not an atta-boy for good deeds in the past. He's failed in the leadership tests of this campaign, he's failed to distinguish himself from a broken Republican party, and on November 4th, he'll fail to earn the faith and trust of the American people to lead them into the next four years.

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