Nashville is blessed with a number of thoughtful Democratic legislators, but very few are as fun to watch as state Rep. John Ray Clemmons and state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, who are refreshingly unafraid to speak their minds. Clemmons seems to delight in provoking GOP leadership, but he also fights passionately for bills he thinks are right, even when he knows they are doomed. Yarbro is slightly more politic — necessary given the small size of the Senate — but his discursive treatises politely explaining the awfulness of a given bill, usually filled with subtle and hilarious jabs, enliven even the most tedious hearings. CARI WADE GERVIN
Best Democrat
State Rep. John Ray Clemmons/State Sen. Jeff Yarbro (Tie)
