Best Political Prisoner: Don Beisswenger Last November, Rev. Don Beisswenger, a 72-year-old Presbyterian minister, emeritus professor at Vandy and advocate for the poor in Nashville and around the world, took six steps onto the Ft. Benning home of the School of the Americas. Over the years, this facility trained Latin American police and military officers in the techniques of suppression and torture. For this simple protest, the U.S. District Court in Georgia sentenced Beisswenger to six months in federal prison in Kentucky, a sentence he began serving in April and finished last week. His act of conscience is a call to Christians and everyone else that one of their greatest duties is to help the poor, not run down gays or denounce naked pictures. Beisswenger reminds us that we have to pursue all the connections between people and nations and not shy away from hard truths about the impact the government that we fund and that acts in our name has on the lives of people elsewhere. He lives out a post-Holocaust Christianity that demands much more than personal piety. Dave Maddox

Best Election Commission Staffer: Joan Nixon Everybody picks on the Davidson County Election Commission, but not everybody in the election commission office deserves the bad rap. Case in point: community affairs coordinator Joan Nixon, a true professional who wears more hats in that office than a milliner. What's more, Nixon has a natural ability to be a real stickler for the rules while earning candidates' respect and appreciation for her demeanor and attitude. After the resignation of Michael McDonald a few months ago, the commission is on the lookout for a new election administrator. Not that anyone asked, but here's a suggestion that will save everyone a lot of time, money and aggravation (and long, drawn-out nationwide searches): look no further than Joan. Roger Abramson

Best State Legislator to Be: Gary Moore He still has the general election in November to go, but that shouldn't be a problem for Joelton's Gary Moore, who upset incumbent state Rep. Tim Garrett back in August during the Democratic primary race for state House District 50. Moore, a veteran fireman with strong connections in both the state and national firefighter's unions, has proven himself to be a hard worker and a genuinely nice guy with the ability to connect with rank-and-file voters. If Moore serves as well as he campaigns, he should have a good run up on Capitol Hill. Roger Abramson

Best Local Blogger: Rex Hammock, www.rexblog.com The most well-known Web logs (or "blogs") are political in nature, but the best one in Nashville is about the magazine industry. Run by Rex Hammock, president of Nashville's Hammock Publishing Inc., the "Rexblog" observes the latest goings-on in the world of periodicals. From the effects of Martha Stewart's legal troubles on her magazine to the ephemeral world of the "vaporzines" (magazines that are not magazines at all but are just run-it-up-the-flagpole ideas floated by people to get little media attention), Hammock's site is a nice little peek into the publishing industry. Oh yeah, the site also includes a fun bit about Hammock's sit-down meeting with a fairly unrehearsed President Bush in Washington. If you're one of those baffled as to why people like Bush, read Hammock's narrative and maybe you'll figure it out. Roger Abramson

Best Reason to Pick Up the City Paper (And sometimes the only reason): Anthony Lane. The Vandy beat writer for the Nashville City Paper, Anthony Lane has a knack for making accounts of the school's hapless football team surprisingly engaging. A strong reporter with a flair for creative leads, Lane regularly out-writes his prodding counterpart, The Tennessean's Bryan Mullen—who is easily manipulated by the school's PR machine. By contrast, Lane is a more independent writer who manages to write tough on Vandy without ever seeming like he's piling on. And he not only keeps up with how the school's lower profile sports are faring—he seems to genuinely enjoy writing about them. If the City Paper goes the way of Heather Graham's film career, Lane won't be out of work for long. Matt Pulle

Best Ambush of Rebecca Paul: Jennifer Kraus When lottery diva Reba Paul wouldn't talk to WTVF-Channel 5's Jennifer Kraus, the reporter stalked her at her new West Nashville home. The ever-earnest Kraus was reporting that, when Paul first arrived in Nashville, she lived in an elegant Belle Meade apartment for seven months—an expense that the Tennessee Lottery picked up for $20,000. Wearing a bright red pantsuit that Elton John would have worn in the 1970s, Paul greeted Kraus at the door and defended why she first chose to live at such an exclusive address on Tennessee's dime. "That's the one I chose to live in," she huffed, doing her best Marie Antoinette. Kraus then asked why the Tennessee Lottery picked up the hefty bill for her to move her belongings from Atlanta. "You don't think $10,000 is a lot of money?" Kraus asked. "No," Paul replied tersely. "It's a lot of money, but not a lot of money for a move." Hey Reba, Leona Helmsley called. She loves your impression of her. Matt Pulle

Best Way to Never Become Mayor: Serve in the Metro Council Long before every human being regarded the Metro Council as a complete joke, the city's legislative body had proven to be a terrible stepping stone to higher office. Since the formation of Metro Government more than 40 years ago, no Metro Council member has ever been elected mayor. That's because—with some exceptions—voters typically expect their council member to keep the chipper service coming and not tackle or even think about broader issues that affect the entire city. Now, though, the perception of the council is even worse, after the city's legislative body has spent the last year humiliating themselves over protracted debates over dog poop and the etiquette of cab drivers. Matt Pulle

Best Politico Currently on the Sidelines: Leo Waters Leo is the kind of guy who would be comfortable chatting with the president, a university professor or a numbers runner. Someone who grew up in tough circumstances and never forgot where he came from, Waters graced this city with service on the Metro Council only to be tossed out by term limits several years back. After that, he ran for sheriff, but was defeated. One of Mayor Bill Purcell's smartest recent moves was to nominate Waters for the Nashville Electric Service board. But, frankly, we wish there were some place for Waters to inject more wisdom into this city's machinery. We're just thinking out loud here, but vice mayor has his name written all over it. File that idea away... Bruce Dobie

Best Purcell Critic: Sheriff Daron Hall While nearly all of Mayor Bill Purcell's detractors are too timid to air their gripes publicly, Sheriff Daron Hall has had no problem belittling the administration. "They are very controlling," he told the Scene last May, after a dispute over, of all incendiary topics, jail space. "They don't get to remove themselves from responsibility if there are questions and concerns," he added, blasting what he perceived to be the mayor's micromanagement of his department. While other Metro officials offer up their criticism of the mayor in hushed tones in off-the-record conversations with reporters, Hall has picked at the mayor to every paper in town. That he is an elected official—and a popular one at that—gives him a good deal of protection from Purcell. Still, no other officeholder in Davidson County has been half as outspoken. Matt Pulle

Best Phil Williams Story That Should Have Been a Bigger Deal: Exposé of State Sen. Jerry Cooper Phil Williams' damning exposé of state Sen. Jerry Cooper should have landed on the front pages of papers across the state. For nearly two years now, Phil Williams has been reporting how Cooper turned a staggering debt he owed on his Warren County sawmill into a windfall after he used his state connections to upgrade his property. The story goes like this: A Huntsville contractor wanted to buy Cooper's property but as a condition of the purchase he wanted to be connected to nearby rail lines. So Cooper turned to the state Department of Economic and Community Development and they spent $300,000—that's public money—to build a rail spur to the state senator's land. The contractor then bought Cooper's property for $1.3 million, of which $800,000 went to pay off the state senator's mortgage. Mounting the slimiest of defenses, Cooper claimed that he had the rail spur built to create jobs in his county. Williams has been responsible for some of the biggest stories in Tennessee over the last year—this one though might have been his finest. If The Tennessean couldn't break this story, it at least could have taken it over, but any kind of investigative reporting their reporters do tends to involve bland computer-assisted analysis of such mundane topics as police department paperwork. Matt Pulle

Best Williamson County Columnist: Knight Stivender It's the rare writer who can pen highly personalized columns without coming off as self-indulgent. (You can thank the influence of Carrie Bradshaw for this.) But Knight Stivender, unfortunately tucked away at The Tennessean's Williamson A.M. supplement, knows how to write simple, organic narratives that leave an impression. She can spin a whole column about her 3-year-old daughter and make it engaging to this childless bachelor. Or, when she chooses, she can hit on a weightier issue without moralizing. Recently, Stivender wrote about how her Southern grandmother is ashamed of her "Southerness." Stivender writes, "When she was a little girl growing up in Montgomery, she says her grandfather did horrible things to the African Americans who lived on his property and helped him farm it.... She loved him. She hated some of the things he did to other people. Such are the dichotomies of living in the South." While her colleague and Southerner-come-lately Tim Chavez recently garnered national attention for his raving column on how the national media misunderstands everyone below the Mason-Dixon Line, Stivender's homespun tale of her grandmother's misgivings was the more authentic account. Matt Pulle

Best Person to Reenergize the Democratic Party: Mary Mancini The Dems' best hope lies not with some back-slapping relic of the McWherter administration but with someone young, passionate, practical and adept at grassroots organizing—someone like Mancini, the former music-industry staffer and radio host whose indie record store Lucy's Record Shop helped politicize a generation of Nashville teens. Level-headed yet fiercely loyal to punk's progressive precepts, Mancini has qualities that many would-be firebrands lack but could use. She has a disarming personality, a sense of humor, experience as a small-business owner—and most importantly, a coalition-building ability to reason with lots of diverse people. What's more, she brings to the table things the hapless Dems sorely need: cool, energy and street cred. Her recent voter-registration drive at the Belcourt signed up more than 100 new voters and drew hundreds more for the daylong activities. And her latest idea is a honey: buying a block of time on above-ground Nashville radio to create a liberal local talk show. Interested? Write her at mary@lucysrecordshop.com. Jim Ridley