Ed Wood "The Right Stuff" Published June 26, 2002

I told you so!

I hate to say, "I told you so." Well, no I don't. I love to say, "I told you so." It's just that the opportunity for me to say it doesn't come along very often and more. Now take my wife - she says it all the time!

But this time it's for real! A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article on the James Carville scheme to place lottery referenda on the same ballot as the race for governor. The theory being that liberals would turn out big-time to vote for the lottery, and while they were there, just might also vote for the liberal Democrat gubernatorial candidate. It has already worked in electing Democrat governors in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

I noted that the same tactic is already in place here for this fall's election with the choice for governor first on the ballot, the vote for the lottery next, then the choices for U.S. Senate, Congress, State Senate, etc., etc. But Tennessee is different in that our lottery vote is for a Constitutional amendment, and its passage depends upon receiving favorable votes totaling a simple majority of the total of all votes cast for governor. Therefore, the more votes cast for the lottery, and the fewer votes cast for governor, the better the chance for passing the lottery amendment.

My prediction was to look for an effort by the pro-lottery folks to move the lottery question to the top of the ballot, and place the governor's choice as far down the list as possible.

Guess what? On the State Senate docket this past Wednesday was SB2141, sponsored by pro-lottery activist Stephen Cohen (D-Memphis) calling for the lottery question to be moved "before the list" of other ballot issues, or in other words, first on the November ballot!

Oh Lord, sometimes it's hard to be humble.

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Ed Wood is a resident of Sparta, TN. His column is published each Wednesday in the Crossville Chronicle.