My friend Meredith has brought up some interesting information that I thought I would pass on for those of you voting in Tennessee on Tuesday...

When you vote Tuesday, you will see “I hereby declare my preference for candidate for the office of President of the United States to be as follows:” Then you'll see a listing of Presidential candidates.

However, by voting for a particular candidate, you are not technically voting for your choice for President. This list of Presidential candidates is just for informational purposes for the TN Republican Party and the TN Democratic Party. The delegates to the National Convention choose the candidate. The election of the Presidential candidate is the responsibility of these delegates. You are voting for these delegates this Tuesday.

Following your “vote” (better known as preference) in support of a specific candidate, you will then have the opportunity to vote for 12 Delegates at Large and 3 Delegates from your voting district. If you do not know your district, call your county election commission or go to: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/election/maps/index.htm.

In each party's primary, the voter may cast one (1) vote for his or her preference for candidate for president or for the uncommitted designation. However, TCA §2-13-312 permits the voter to vote for as many delegate candidates as there are to be delegates elected from that congressional district. According to the number allocated for any presidential candidate, the delegate candidate(s) receiving the most votes shall be certified as the delegates to their parties' national conventions. TCA §2-13-315.

What does this all mean? You do not have to choose your delegates to the convention based solely on the fact that they are listed as “Committed to …” a certain candidate. It does not matter if their commitment is to Romney, McCain, Huckabee or a candidate that is no longer in the running for President (such as Thompson and Giuliani). Some of the best delegates for the convention are listed under “Committed to Fred Thompson.” These folks are very conservative and believe in smaller government, less taxation, etc. They are fellow local residents who have our best interests at heart, not that of the National Party.

All of the people below are listed “Committed to Fred Thompson.” So if you were planning to vote for Fred, you might want to still consider voting for his delegates.

Jim Bryson (formerly served on TN State Senate, ran for TN Governor in 2006)
Tim Burchett (R-Knox County; TN State Senate)
Steven Buttrey (2005 Republican caucus Secretary)
J. Wayne Cropp (Chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party)
Glen Casada (R-Williamson County,TN State Congressman of Franklin, member of Brentwood Baptist Church)
Delores Gresham (State Representative of District 94)
Tom Leatherwood (Shelby County Registrar of Deeds)
Ron Ramsey (Lt. Governor and Speaker of the Senate)
Jamie Woodson (R-Knox County; TN State Senate)

If you’re in the 7th District, you can also vote for the following:
John Allbrooks (TN Republican Party Exec. Committee – Williamson County resident)
Monty Lankford (founder and owner of TLC Medical in Franklin, TN)
Joseph A. Woodruff (Served on Thompson’s financial team, Board member of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County)

I'm posting this because I think it's important to be informed of what you will be facing in the voting booth. To be honest, it makes me a little bit uneasy to vote for Fred's delegates without knowing who they plan to vote for. Now, it will probably not matter by the time the convention rolls around, because by then it's very likely that we'll know who is going to get the nomination and it will all be pageantry.

But, again, I wanted to put it out there that you are going to have the option to choose delegates, so it's worth looking into before you head to the polls.

Thanks for the info, Meredith!