What is “Tennessee Ticket”? Well, the word “ticket” is a synonym for “ballot.” Although it’s often used in the context of “straight-ticket” or “split-ticket” voting, it is used here to fashion an alliterative title; and it simply means “everything on the ballot in Tennessee.”

Wait. Everything?

Ideally, yes. But I’m only one guy, and maintaining a comprehensive list of every candidate and every initiative on every ballot across the Volunteer State would be more than a full-time job, at least in election years. So, I get as close as I can. The closest I’ve come was candidate listings for all 2006 federal and state candidates in Tennessee, in addition to all local candidates in Hamilton County.

I’ve been paying close attention to elections and politics since 1999. In January 2005, after searching the Internet for months for a blog about local and state elections in Tennessee, I launched one: the Chattanooga-Hamilton Civic Forum, which a year later was re-branded as TennesseeTicket.com.

This led to some wonderful opportunities in other media. I wrote a weekly column for the Chattanooga Pulse from 2006 into 2008. In 2009-10 I served as editor of the TN03 Election blog on Chattarati, and I continue as an occasional contributor there. I have appeared as a panelist on television/webcast programs produced by the local PBS and NBC affiliates, and I am currently an opinion columnist for Nooga.com.

I very much welcome your suggestions for making this site more useful.