Georgiana Vines

POLITICAL ODDS & ENDS: This is the time of year when candidates who already have qualified for public office are having fundraisers or other events to announce "officially" for their posts.

The local Obama for America campaign, an official re-election effort for President Barack Obama, is focusing its efforts on making phone calls and walking in neighborhoods in North Carolina with the realization that Tennessee is expected to be a red ...

Candidates for different seats in the Legislature to represent Knox County will have activities this week.

While Knoxville lawyer Shelley Breeding asks the Tennessee Supreme Court to hear a residency issue that is keeping her off the Aug. 2 Democratic ballot for a new legislative seat, Knox County Democrats are scrambling to find someone to take ...

MORE ON FOCUS POLLS: Knox County Commission Chairman Mike Hammond says he did not know about a poll in last Monday's Knoxville Focus — which asked respondents if they supported or opposed his re-election — until after the commission meeting ...

Victor Ashe's "Let's Keep Working Together" campaign slogan was featured on a sign on Kingston Pike and on T-shirts at a reunion marking the 25th anniversary of his first Knoxville mayoral run.

Two candidates with backgrounds in health care are seeking the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Congressional District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah.

Shelley Breeding hopes to know this week whether she will be able to run as a Democrat for the new 89th House District seat when a hearing is held on whether she is a Knox County or Anderson County resident.

Vanderbilt "Van" Brabson has been low-key in seeking the Republican nomination for the 13th District House seat that state Rep. Harry Tindell, a Democrat, is vacating. But he says that is about to change.

The Scottie Mayfield for Congress campaign took time off for "planning" last week after Mayfield's son, Michael, was charged with vandalism of less than $500 after confessing to slashing a tire of an aide to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett got an earful Friday on the need to get parents behind children and schools when he took his budget message to the "fellowship" breakfast hosted by former Knox County Commissioner Paul Pinkston at Shoney's in ...

Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who once was New Jersey governor and then EPA administrator, is so disillusioned with the national political process that she has aligned herself with a nonpartisan movement, Americans Elect, to choose a president this year. ...

Knoxville women will join others across the country on Saturday to call attention to what is considered a war on women's rights.

State Rep. Harry Tindell, a Knoxville Democrat who's retiring this year, received a General Assembly flag after the state House of Representatives passed a resolution describing him as a "dedicated and well-informed legislator" who worked "tirelessly" for his 13th District ...

Observations on the state legislative process after spending parts of two days in Nashville: