TennesseeTicket.com

Let's start small. In District 6 of the Chattanooga City Council, Carol Berz won with just under 30% of the vote. Plurality elections are interesting, because a runoff between Berz and her closest runner-up, Melinda Hickey, might have shown how loyalties really lined up. I could be wrong, but it felt like Mrs. Hickey and Julie Chamberlain pretty evenly split a similar bloc of voters. (Never mind that Chamberlain, who came in third, was Marti Rutherford's opponent in 2005.) I think Carol Berz still would have won, as the Kelley vote and at least some of the Shaw support would have gone to her. If there had been a runoff (or if we had some type of ranked-voting system, imagine that), I could have been proven right — or wrong.

Congratulations are due Dr. Berz, and I look forward to working with her as she takes office. In the January 24 forum, she said that, if elected, she would run again in the 2009 city elections (as did each of the other candidates).

Also, I think I'll miss Mike Feely. I didn't agree with every one of his positions during the brief interim, but I think he did a great job, and is a natural community leader.

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Next up is the Hamilton County Assessor of Property — or perhaps it would be better to call the position "Property Tax Arbiter for Life." Regardless of my opinion that this is one of many that shouldn't be partisan, it is held by a Republican, and no Democrats filed in the primary. It won't be official until after the August election, but since Bill Bennett was the only name on any ballot, it's a really safe bet that he'll be Assessor of Property for another four years.

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Okay, someone else will have to write about the GOP delegate races. I'm really too tired.

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Now to the Presidential Preference Primary, or, for some voters, the "mourn the loss of Fred and throw a dart between McCain and Romney" contest. When I briefly chatted with a couple of young voters outside the Northgate early voting location, I tried to (privately) guess which candidate they had chosen. I think I was right: Mike Huckabee won the county, and the state, and a whole slew of Southern Baptist-dominated states. (Hat tip: terribly sorry, but I forget.)

Barack Obama won Hamilton County, and Davidson, and Shelby; and came within striking distance in Knox; but he did so poorly in rural counties (and other larger ones, such as Sullivan) that Senator Clinton was able to more than make up for it. Adam Groves points to suggestions that the severe weather in Memphis may have contributed to Obama's Tennessee woes as well, as some polling places were forced to close early.

But all in all, I (as a fully disclosed Obama supporter) am pleased with most of yesterday's results. There are enough indications that he is on a trajectory toward victory to satisfy me for now. Brendan Loy explains some of them.

I stuck to my 2008 political TV standby (MSNBC) for coverage all night, along with VolunteerVoters.com, Political Wire, and a few other blogs.

I may have more to say later; stay tuned. And thanks for voting!