Featured speakers: Bob Tuke and Mike Padgett
Both are Democratic candidates for Lamar Alexander's US Senate seat, in Lamar's hometown... Priceless.

Also speaking will be Blount County's favorite son Judge Mike Meares.

Commissioner Wendy Reeves will invoke FDR for us... and don't forget, there's (good) food !!

It should be well worth anyone's time and money ($50.00 per ticket).

Saturday April 26th at the Airport Hilton.
Doors open at 6:30, Dinner at 7:00.

For tickets contact any Blount County Democratic Party member, Democratic Women's Club member or call 865-379-8683. Leave a message, they will call you back.

UPDATE: We have been told that Tuke and Padgett will not be able to attend.

According to Metro Pulse, a citizen has filed a formal complaint with the Blount County Election Commission stating that Rep. Doug Overbey cannot serve as both a sitting judge and a state legislator at the same time, and is therefore not qualified to run against Sen. Raymond Finney for State Senate or hold his current seat in the House.

Here's a database of every candidate for the Tennessee August state and federal primaries:

http://www.tennviews.com/tn08aug

You can filter the list by office, district, and/or party. Candidate listings include links to district maps, campaign websites, emails, and campaign finance disclosures that we could find, along with links to search Google news, websites, and blogs.

We will be updating it over the next few weeks. If you have any updates, additions or corrections please submit them to rneal@rviews.com.

We met up with lots of really nice folks who came out to support Judge Mike Meares at the grand opening of his campaign headquarters today, and there was some great food, too.

Brandon Cook, Judge Meares' campaign coordinator, estimated somewhere between 200 and 400 people had been through between 10AM and 1PM today. Local media was there, too.

A few more snapshots after the jump...

Judicial race focuses on finances

“There is absolutely no reason for anyone to assume that you’re on the take, or that accepting a contribution will impact your judgment.”

Democratic presidential primary:

Hillary Clinton 5713
Barack Obama 3086
John Edwards 397

Republican presidential primary:

Mike Huckabee 5135
John McCain 4915
Mitt Romney 3008
Ron Paul 1224
Fred Thompson 382

Circuit Court Judge Division II primary:

David Duggan (R) 9222
Mike Meares (D) 7032

MLK voting location, 1:45PM

Spent about an hour and a half over at the Alcoa Family Life Baptist voting location. We counted around 150 voters during that time. The official count when we left was around 380. There were no lines.

At MLK, they had recorded 101 voters as of 1PM. They said they were surprised by the relatively light turnout. They were projecting about 250 by the close of business. They said they heard the Montvale location was busy and had requested more machines, but none were available.

At Maryville Middle School, they had about 400 voters by approx. 2PM. They said it had been steady but slow. There were about ten people in line. They, too, said turnout was light so far, but they were expecting business to pick up after 5PM.

We saw lots of Ron Paul signs, and supporters waving signs and handing out info at Blount Middle and at Maryville High. We also saw lots of Hillary signs and three or four Romney signs. We so no McCain or Obama signs at any location. There were Meares signs everywhere.

More photos after the jump...

We predict a huge win for Judge Mike Meares in tomorrow's Blount County Primary.

Yes, we realize he is unopposed in the primary, as is his opponent. But fairness and justice for all in Blount County are the winners tomorrow, because we will have an outstanding candidate on the ballot in August: Judge Mike Meares.

Unlike his opponent, who has little or no experience in criminal justice.

And why are more than 50% of his opponent's campaign contributers lawyers? Judge Mike Mears has pledged not to take donations from lawyers.

And why has his opponent accepted more than $5000 in donations from local elected officials, including $1000 from Judge Dale Young, $1000 from Blount Sheriff James Berrong, and $500 from Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham, not to mention $5000 from the Blount County Republican party? Why does the local Republican party feel it necessary to control the Blount County courts? Judge Mike Meares believes we should leave politics outside the courthouse.

And why has his opponent accepted in-kind contributions from one of Knoxville's most prominent politically connected public relations firms, which lists Exxon/Mobile, Wackenhut, and a long list of developers among its clients, to create campaign materials for him? Why is Judge Meares' opponent so worried about his message that he has to hire a PR master from outside the county to spin it for him?

All you other folks interested in supporting Judge Mike Mears in his fight for fairness and justice for all, first, go vote for him in tomorrow's primary as a show of support. Then send a campaign contribution to Committee to Elect Mike Meares, 212 High St., Maryville, TN 37804. Then remember to vote for Judge Mike Meares in the August Blount County general election.

Early voting has been underway in Blount Co. since Wed. Jan. 16th and ends this Thursday, Jan. 31st. Through last Thursday Jan. 24th, only 1,378 people had voted early. This is about 2.3% of the registered voters in Blount Count.

Voting picked up a little on Wednesday and Thursday after Thompson dropped out. Apparently some people were waiting to see what he would do before voting.

That's what Robert Wilson suggests in this Knoxville News Sentinel article.

Actually, it sounds about right if you think about it. Ron Paul is a nut who appeals to less informed voters and is running on a platform of dismantling the federal government and all our social safety net programs, deregulation and corporations gone wild against the interests of middle-class working people, and he has the support of anti-immigration and white supremacist groups.

What's not to like? </sarcasm>

Judge Mike Meares is touring Blount County and he want to meet YOU, your friends, family and neighbors. The tour is kicking off this Saturday, January 26, 1pm, at Bob's Mountaineer Restaurant on Chapman Hwy in Seymour. The Seymour Herald is going to be covering the event.

See the Elect Judge Meares website for more upcoming events.

The Judge Mike Meares campaign has launched their official website at www.mearesforjudge.com. There's a lot of good information, including an interesting "voter education" section on how the court system works. Check it out.

Also, the Committee to Elect Mike Meares is now accepting contributions. You can send your contribution (up to the maximum of $1,000.00) to:

Committee to Elect Mike Meares
c/o Martha Meares, Treasurer
212 High St.
Maryville, TN 37804

Blount County Circuit Court Judge Mike Meares has launched his official Campaign Diary blog.

Judge Meares, who was recently appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen, is seeking election in August. He is asking for bi-partisan support and says "Being a Judge should never be about politics as usual and neither should this campaign."

If you haven't already, the last day to register to vote in the February 5th primaries is Monday, January 7th. That's this coming Monday.

Early voting will start January 16th and go through January 31st. That's two weeks from today.

Here's the registration form, good for any county in the state of Tennessee.

Take the poll at TennViews...