Early congratulations to Nashville for All of Us

Turnout for the special election on English Only today was reported to be steady on WSMV's Noon newscast and that fits with what I saw at a couple of polling places this morning.

As others have pointed out, English Only has a good chance of passing. Sunny weather today means the turnout will be heavier than I would have thought for January. WSMV reports that about 13,400 voted early. The Division of Elections office says there are 326,611 active voters and 378,899 registered voters in Davidson County. So 4.1 percent of active voters and 3.5 percent of registered voters have participated so far.

Regardless of the result, I think the Nashville for All of Us organizers deserve thanks and congratulations. The recruiting of coalition members, the commercials, the lining up of civic leaders, the fundraising, and the use of social networking media have all helped turn out their targeted voters. Their efforts have taken the media advantage away from Eric Crafton. I'll be honest in saying that I had serious doubts last fall about whether that would happen.

I have received dozens of emails from friends about early voting. They were sending messages to their entire contact lists. Lots of people with no formal role in the campaign did little things like that along the way. That is certainly the mark of a successful campaign.

Now we wait for the results.