I admit it. I love election nights. Watching the results come in, even when they don't go as you mght hope, is an exciting thing. We had us some elections here in Tennessee yesterday. Now the big ones that all the news has focused on are the unsurprising results in the primaries for U.S. Senate and Governor, although there really wasn't much question as to the outcome in either of those. But there were some local elections that were certainly of interest to us here in TCASK (mostly to me, since I'm the poor shlub who has to meet all of these folks up on the hill). And the good news is that the primaries turned out well for us.

I was particularly disturbed by the fact that two of our closest allies in the house, Larry Turner (Memphis), sponsor of the abolition legislation, and Beverly Marrero (Memphis), sponsor of the moratorium legislation, were both being challenged in the primary. These are two of the most moral leaders, and nicest people, I have ever encountered, and I am glad to say that both soundly defeated their challengers. We look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.

Another House race that was of interest was the race for the seat representing district 54, right here in Nashville. This seat was held by Edith Langster, a supporter of the moratorium legislation, but she was challenged by Nashville City Council woman Brenda Gilmore. With no Republican contesting the seat in November, the winner of the primary becomes the representative. Well, as many of you probably know, Edith Langster was defeated by a wide margin yesterday. This might seem disheartening to some, but, after doing a little research, you would discover that Brenda Gilmore sponsored the moratorium resolution that the Metro Council passed in 2002. So really, for us abolitionists, this race was a win-win.

The final race that I've been watching with interest is that for the 15th Senate district, currently represented by Charlotte Burks. Burks replaced her husband Tommy Burks after he was murdered by his election opponent, and was being challenged in the Democratic primary with no Republican challenger that I know of. Senator Burks has championed victims' rights legislation and understands the pain that the death penalty process can cause to victims' families. We hope to work more closely with her in the future and are glad to have the opportunity.

Now obviously, there were a lot of elections yesterday, 116 legislative seat, plus the Gubernatorial primaries and judicial elections, and I won't do you all the disservice of reviewing each and every one of them. I simply wanted to outline a few races that we've been watching with interest and let you know that they came out pretty well. Now for us, it's time to start planning out our work for 2007 when the new session starts, because it's in this session that we aim to actually pass moratorium and study legislation and give our state policy-makers this information that they need to move away from an immoral, costly, and ineffective public policy.