D.C. polling/media firms sign on with Briley

With announcement of mayoral campaign widely anticipated, councilman assembles team that has worked for Bredesen, Purcell, and Cooper

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

David Briley

NashvillePost.com has learned that Metro Councilman-at-Large David Briley has hired two major Democratic operatives, pollster Fred Yang and media consultant David Dixon, and will enter the Mayor's race sometime next week.

Yang and Dixon had previously committed to assist Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson, had he entered the race. As previously reported by NashvillePost.com, Yang has been Gov. Phil Bredesen's pollster, and Dixon is well known in Nashville for campaign spots done for Mayor Bill Purcell and Congressman Jim Cooper.

This move will leave the Vice Mayor's race with only one known candidate, At-Large Councilwoman Diane Neighbors, although her colleague Carolyn Baldwin Tucker is rumored to be considering a bid.

Briley, who is finishing up his second term on the Metro Council, is the grandson of Metro Nashville's first Mayor, Beverly Briley. His brother Rob was just re-elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives.

David Briley's announcement has been expected, and Briley himself all but admitted as much while appearing on WKRN's election night television coverage.

He has come under fire in the last 24 hours for showing up at Cora Howe Elementary Tuesday night to question the long voting lines that saw voters waiting as much as six hours to vote.

Members of the election commission have stated that Briley broke the law by going to the polling place. They say the delays resulted from a long ballot and voters' failure to understand the voting system. Others have countered that the election commission did not provide enough machines at many polling locations -- a situation predicted months ago by one voting machine vendor.

In May, NashvillePost.com reported that Diebold, a manufacturer of voting machines, had warned the election commission that a bid by Election Systems & Software Inc. for new voting machines was inadequate and that choosing the rival bid would result in long lines. While the election commission was angry with ES&S at the time for it's failure to live up to their contract for the August election primary, members did not appear concerned that there wouldn't be enough voting machines.

Other announced candidate for mayor are former Congressman Bob Clement, Councilman At-Large Buck Dozier, and Vice Mayor Howard Gentry.