Grand Divisions

Tennessee Equality Project seeks to advance and protect the civil rights of our State’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons and their families in each Grand Division.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Hey, let's run a press release!

If you want news about state legislative races, you have to dig hard. So if anything appears, I usually have to blink my eyes a couple of times to make sure it's real. Once I get over my shock and gratitude, I am quickly brought back down to earth when I realize that what usually gets written doesn't amount to coverage. Such is the case of the Daily News Journal's profile of Tim Tipps. This is no slight to Mr. Tipps. Good for him for getting word out about his campaign. That's his job. And let me tell you, he and his campaign got it done with this release. It ran in the Sunday edition complete with an active link to his site and an email address.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that very few candidates for Legislature have websites or websites that are easy to find or websites that have good contact information on them? Oh, and if you sign up for email updates from the candidates, don't hold your breath waiting for them. I think I've received one campaign email in the month of June out of the dozen sites where I signed up for "news."

But back to Tim Tipps. In reading the profile at the Daily News Journal, you'd never know his political party. He's a Democrat, by the way. You also wouldn't know that he faces Rick Parks in the primary. And whoever wins in the primary will face Joe Carr, Jon Jaques, or Lou Ann Zelenik. The 48th District might be one of the hottest to watch in the state.

Let me repeat. This is not the problem of Tim Tipps. If anything, he should be praised for getting information out and making his site so accessible. Let's hope we see some coverage as the race heats up.

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