Presidential Daybook: Primary Eve

UPDATE: Romney's morning pancakes came with influx of campaign cash

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Lyndon Johnson is all ears

This time tomorrow, "Super Tuesday" will be in full force. Tennesseans, as well as voters in Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, New York and a number of other states all across the country will be casting their votes for their favorite presidential primary candidate.

Over the weekend, Nashville paid host to one major Republican candidate and surrogates for the Democratic candidates.

On Saturday, Montgomery Bell Academy hosted Sen. John McCain and about 600 of his supporters, but the real action seems to have been at a fundraiser held earlier that morning.

NashvillePost.com spoke with McCain fundraiser Scooter Clippard last night and asked him for his take on the fundraiser he held for the Arizona senator at his Green Hills home. According to Clippard, they raised in excess of $400,000 in the five days they had to put the event together.

Joining Clippard as hosts for the event were Sam Bartholomew, Ben and Tricia Carswell, Beth Clayton, Roy Flowers, Danny Graves, Meredith and former Congressman Van Hilleary, Gina and Lynn Holton, Beth and A.J. McCall, Virginia and Albert McCall, Sandy and former Shelby County mayor Jim Rout, Martha and former Governor Don Sundquist, Ruth and former mayor of Maryville Steve West.

As for surrogates, both Democratic campaigns had representatives in town over the weekend. Chelsea Clinton was at Sunset Grill for her mother, Sen. Hillary Clinton, yesterday and former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus stumped for Sen. Barack Obama at Vanderbilt on Friday.

Looking ahead, both Democratic candidates will try to reach Tennessee voters later today.

Clinton has bought 90 minutes of television time on the Hallmark Channel to air a "national town hall" meeting that will be simulcast on her Web site and the Obama campaign has retired Air Force Gen. Scott Gration, a foreign policy advisor to his campaign, appearing at Tennessee State Univeristy.

Tomorrow, when the polls open and throughout the day, NashvillePost.com will be on the road again to give you the latest from the polls. Much like our popular coverage of the South Carolina Republican primary, we will be posting regular updates here to let you know what is happening at Nashville-area polling locations crucial to the candidates' success.

Keep in mind that you don't have to wait on our e-mail alerts for the latest updates. Keep checking the Web site throughout the day.

UPDATE 2:43 p.m. – Romney picks up a little cash with his pancakes

Early this morning, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney made a stop at Hillsboro Village's Pancake Pantry.

While the public reason for the stop was to rally his supporters in advance of tomorrow's primary vote, he also picked up some cash in the process.

According to his area fundraising representative, Rachel Barrett, they were able to raise more than $200,000 this morning. She added that since January of 2007, they have raised approximately $825,000 in Tennessee.