News Briefly
They’re checking Bill Frist’s closet for white gowns
With Trent Lott now mulling his options with a career counselor, prognosticators are saying our senior Tennessee senator may have a decent shot at the majority leader slot in the U.S. Senate. The question is whether Frist would really want the job. President Bush is said to like Frist. Like him, he’s a wealthy, white, Ivy League Southerner from good stock. The Senate Republicans are scheduled to meet Jan. 6 to figure out the mess. (Our guess is he gets it. See this week’s editorial.)
And he’s only 40
Governor-elect Phil Bredesen made his first senior staff appointments this week, awarding the vaunted deputy governor title to senior campaign strategist Dave Cooley. Cooley will be, in other words, what Peaches Simpkins was to Gov. Don Sundquist. He’s a partner at McNeely Pigott & Fox public relations and was Bredesen’s chief of staff when he was mayor. Bredesen also named highly respected lobbyist Anna Windrow as his senior advisor for legislation and policy, and longtime assistant Janie Conyers as chief administrative officer to the governor. (Read that: If you want to get to him, be nice to Janie—not that it’s a chore.) More appointments TBA....
Exit, stage left
Al Gore left jaws dropping and tongues wagging as he set aside his 2004 presidential ambitions. Those who had thought Gore’s ambitions were genetically encoded in his brain stem were left completely dumbfounded. Theories about his decision ran the gamut, but in the final analysis the reason he offered seemed the best one. Namely, that a presidential race inevitably would have returned to questions about the 2000 contest instead of being focused on the future. The character of his departure was nearly universally praised. As The New York Times put it, “Al Gore deserves the gratitude of the nation, and not just conflicted Democrats, for his unquestionably painful decision.”
Sports flash
After steamrolling over the New England Patriots in a display of power that had commentators gushing, the Titans were even closer to homefield advantage in the playoffs. In the Monday night shellacking, quarterback Steve McNair turned in a running-passing performance that presented more evidence that he is possibly the finest quarterback playing in the league today.
There was an election
All but about 3 percent of Davidson County voters missed it, but there’s a new Metro Council member. Funnyman/law student Adam Dread took down former council member Charles French, who had served almost 30 years in the body and was looking to get back in.
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