I am pleased, at long last, to report that BobClement.com is officially blank. The wide-open directory of the former campaign Web site that lingered for months is finally history. The directory has been replaced with an empty HTML page, which seems like a fine solution to me.

While we’re on the subject of mayoral candidate Web sites, Karl Dean now has a simple, clean site interface to reflect his new status as Nashville’s mayor.

Just when you thought it was safe to return to your local polling place, Kenneth Eaton has announced that he intends to unseat U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander in this fall’s election:

After deep consideration and talking with my family, my political mentor Bob Clement, as well as his long time friend and chief of staff Larry Woods; I have decided to enter the race. These friends are confident that I should run, and believe we have the ability to win this race.

If Eaton’s mayoral campaign was a longshot (and it certainly was), I’m not sure how to describe this latest effort. Quixotic doesn’t quite say enough. It may be time to solicit more realistic mentorship and advice because I’m not sure why trying to unseat one of Tennessee’s most popular political figures seems like a good idea to anyone.

Eaton is ready, though, even if his Web site is not. Note that “Kenneth Eaton for Mayor of Nashville” is still the home page’s title, but at least he still has a home page. (It’s amazing to me that this site still links to a Web directory months after the election.)

I’m not sure what to make of the source for this news. If the author had concerns about Harold Ford’s unsuccessful Senate campaign, he will be plenty busy analyzing this one.

Former U.S. Congressman Bob Clement officially announced the launch of Clement & Associates, a consulting and lobbying firm, yesterday evening via a news release. I remain profoundly relieved that Bob Clement was not elected as Nashville’s mayor, but I wish him no ill will in his new endeavor. My concerns about Clement serving as Nashville’s civic leader were that he was not well-suited for the job and that he had spent too much time as a “career politician,” an increasingly ugly insult in politics these days. This new undertaking is a much better fit for Clement, who can rely on his considerable experience in Washington to help the clients he will serve.

Web update: BobClement.com is still an empty shell in need of a splash page, and Clement & Associates is  not these self-described “bean counters” from Sacramento.

I noticed tonight that someone over at Bob Clement’s Web site took my advice last month about removing stale content from this summer’s mayoral election. The BobClement.com front page is down, but unfortunately what’s up in its place is worse: nothing.

Visitors to Clement’s Web site see a directory listing for the entire Web site, including a photos section with photos of Clement at the Nashville Zoo (above), with Bill Clinton and with Steve McNair. Clement’s warm reception at one campaign event led someone to name another photo “rockstar.” That might be pushing it, but it’s obvious that the two ladies in the picture are glad to see him.

I suppose this is the Internet equivalent of raising a stage curtain while stagehands are rearranging set pieces. It can’t be easy to worry about something as secondary as a Web presence during a busy campaign, but this is another good reminder that having a clear-cut strategy in place for ongoing Web content is a wise move. Once it’s out there, it’s out there forever.

Lisa Robbins makes a good point in this week’s Nashville Scene, the annual Best of Nashville issue, under the entry “Best Political Tragicomedy: Li’l Bob and The Blog Ranters:”

Take heed, future candidates. Send a memo to supporters: “If you wouldn’t shout it on a street corner holding one of my signs, don’t post it online!” It’s sad to watch a candidate flame out at the end of a long career playing the criminal-loving-tax-crazy-liberal-from-Massachusetts card. But the mangy dogs barking taunts in the background? You gotta laugh at that.

How much of a difference, either way, did the Clement commenters make in the overall election? Probably not that much, but judging from the generally representative vitriol that Robbins quoted in her piece, they can’t have helped Bob’s cause.

This raises interesting questions: How much can a candidate rein-in this kind of activity online? How long until one candidate resorts to having anonymous posters slamming himself or herself online, to make it appear that his opponent is the one slinging the digital dirt? [H/t to Sean for steering me to this week's Scene.]

It turns out that legendary Nashville restaurant Jimmy Kelly’s was the place to be late on election night last week–no matter which mayoral candidate you supported in the runoff. Major players for the Dean campaign gathered on the Louise Avenue establishment’s second floor for a private celebration around midnight, but they weren’t expecting to see some of their counterparts from Team Clement upon walking in the front door. Reportedly the brief exchanges between camps were civil and respectful, but there’s no word on whether longtime proprietor Mike Kelly knew in advance that he would welcome both sides of the mayoral race that evening. Maybe it wasn’t coincidence, or maybe Kelly really does know just about every single Nashvillian out there. We’ll have to keep wondering. [Photo: wcities.com]

I had to figure that on the beach, I was either going to get good news on election night, or at least I was still on the beach. It”s definitely better to get good news, and I”m definitely pleased with last night”s election results. It”s amazing how far technology has come that I can know the results of an election taking place more than 1,000 miles away within an hour of the polls closing by merely checking e-mail from a cell phone. Here are my thoughts about the election:

• I sincerely believe that Nashville will be better off four years from now with Karl Dean as mayor as opposed to Bob Clement.
• It”s apparent to me that despite Bill Purcell”s solid performance in office, he”s made some significant bridges the past two years, enough to generate legitimate voter concern that Dean is too similar and too closely connected to Purcell.I hope Dean will look to build stronger and more equitable relationships with the new Metro Council. We need leadership that is eager and willing to collaborate with others, even those whohold diverging points of view.
• Clement conceded awfully quickly last night, and despite his “I couldn”t be negative if I tried” nonsense, he was remarkably civil in defeat. I appreciate his willingness to respond that way to results that were surely a painful development for him.
• The At-Large ruoff results largely swung in favor of progressive newcomers, with Megan Barry and Jerry Maynard earning seats.  I”m concerned to see Charlie Tygard return to the council, but I”m pleased that J.B. Loring and Ronnie Greer did not make the cut.

After more than a year of following the mayoral race more closely than I ever have before, I”m relieved that the election is finally over. A new administration affords Nashville the opportunity to continue the successes that took place under Purcell”s leadership and to hopefully mend many of the fences that he may have left in disrepair the past couple of years. I hope Nashville and its freshly elected leaders can banish the rhetoric and can get on with making this city an even better place to live for everyone.

The City Paper reports on its own polling this week indicating that Nashville’s mayoral race is headed toward a photo finish. Pat Nolan, omnipresent throughout the months of forums that have showcased all of the candidates, shared his thoughts for the story:

“All the campaigns have been very careful for weeks to not be claiming victory and to say that this was a race that as best they could tell was indeed a dead heat, too close to call and within the margin for error. Now, obviously, each side would have said they had the slight advantage — which I think is possible even within what you’ve got …” Nolan said, adding, however, that the campaigns have indicated an undecided vote larger than 6 percent.

Because the CP poll queried likely voters for the runoff election, it is amazing to me that six weeks after the general election, there are still undecided voters who expect to cast a ballot today or next Tuesday. The race has–largely accurately–been described as dull by many observers, but the runoff campaign has featured more drama (such as it has been) than at any other time since all of the candidates declared. The two candidates seem to me to be very different, and each have their diverse flaws. How is it that people who pay attention, at least nominally, to local politics still don’t know who they want to be mayor?

Evans Donnell, media director for Howard Gentry’s mayoral campaign, was kind enough to answer a few questions I posed recently. Nashvillians who follow local politics closely know that Donnell had a bittersweet time on election night watching Gentry come painfully close to qualifying for the mayoral runoff election, but many don’t know that he got some wonderful news about a new addition to his family the very same day. Here’s more from Evans on the election and more.

1) What are you doing now that the campaign is over?

I’m spending more time with my wife and soon-to-be-fully-adopted daughter. We found out on election day that we’ll finalize adoption on Sept. 26, which was great news on an otherwise bad day. As much as I wanted Howard to win, I think people will understand that nothing means more to my wife and I than completing our family.

2) Are you helping or supporting a candidate in the runoff? If so, which one and why?

I support Karl Dean in the runoff, and I voted for him at Howard School on the second day of early voting. In my work for Howard’s campaign I attended more than 40 of the mayoral forums so I got to hear and see all the candidates as they answered just about every imaginable question.

I have nothing against Bob Clement, who was a fine congressman for our district and has always been quite kind to me, but I think Karl Dean thoroughly understands not only the city but Metro government. I’ve probably heard all the arguments for and against both of the remaining candidates and I think Mr. Dean is the better choice.

3) How would you describe your personal experience on election night as the results came in?

I felt I was on a rollercoaster ride but I still had to stay focused on my job as Howard’s press secretary. First there was the exciting high when we thought we had a good chance of getting in the runoff and then the absolute low of ending up 395 votes behind Mr. Clement and knowing our campaign was over.

My father once lost a judicial race elsewhere in Middle Tennessee by 147 votes, and there’s a part of me that would rather lose by a great deal than come so close. In both instances I’ve had people say things like, “You should be proud you did so well” to me. That’s a nice sentiment, and I know they mean well, but losing stinks. Nothing makes you feel better about coming up short. It was also sad to realize that my work for Howard with campaign colleagues like Bo Roberts, Jennifer Hatten, Mark Shafer and Alfred Degrafinreid was ending. They’re a fine bunch of folks.

4) What’s next for Howard?

That’s a question for Howard to answer. I know whatever he ends up doing, though, that promoting and strengthening Nashville will always be important to him. We’ve been friends for many years, and he’s been a mentor to me as well. I’m very grateful for the privilege of knowing and working for him. His family are also dear to me, and I’m thankful to have crossed paths with all of them.

WRVR-FM The River’s Woody and Jim weren’t impressed by Saturday night’s mayoral debate. Bob Clement, whom the duo referred to as “Mr. Phony,” fared especially poorly in a brief discussion this morning. After airing an audio clip where Clement drew from familiar talking points about not caring where good ideas originate and his intention to focus on implementing such ideas, one of the DJs observed, “If you’re running for office, aren’t you supposed to be the one with the good ideas?”

Clement’s sound byte aired between a man-on-the-street clip discussing the freshly cancelled Anchorwoman TV show, one in which the speaker observed that the show’s star might be showing too much “cleavlage,” and audio footage of a recent beauty pageant contestant explaining that 20 percent of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a map because they don’t have enough access to maps. Ouch.

At least one former candidate in the Nashville mayor’s race is making an endorsement: Kenneth Eaton.

We Support Bob Clement As Our Next Mayor! Check Back soon for a full Site Update, as Well as a letter of Support from Mr. Eaton. Karl Dean Does not have the Experience to run this city. Karl Dean Is a Continuation of the Purcell Administration. Bob Clement Is the Change Nashville Needs!

Buck Dozier followed the odd tradition of politicians referring to themselves in the third person earlier this week, and Eaton has taken it one step further by opting for the second person “we.” Both Clement and Dean have understandably coveted endorsements that don’t appear to be coming from Dozier, David Briley, and Howard Gentry. Is this an endorsement that Clement wants, though?

I’ve read the phrase a “continuation of the Purcell administration” a few times lately in a negative light. Is following in Purcell’s footsteps a bad thing? Some Nashvillians, and they’re not all in Eaton’s camp, would say yes.

Why would any politician endorse an opponent in a runoff election? One of the questions on many area political watchers’ minds since Nashville’s mayoral election has been whether any of the also-rans will publicly lend their support to either of the “finalists.”

I’d definitely like to know whom each of the former candidates will vote for, but now that Buck Dozier is off the fence about staying on the fence, it isn’t likely to happen. I’m having a hard time coming up with reasons why a candidate should make an endorsement, but I can think of plenty why it’s not a good idea to pick a side once the battle lines have been redrawn:

• Making enemies: Picking one candidate over another might come back to haunt you, especially if you pick the losing candidate. Why would Briley, Dozier or Gentry want to gamble their influence in the next administration on the razor-thin margin of a few hundred votes?
• Alienating your base: How happy would most of Briley’s camp have been to see him endorse Bob Clement? How happy would most of Dozier’s voters have been to see him endorse Karl Dean?
• Swallowing a bitter pill: It’s a rough transition to go from trying to take votes away from an opponent to publicly asking voters to give him more.
• Impropriety: Everyone will wonder what it took, if anything, to”earn” an also-ran’s endorsement. It might be easier to revisit your own agenda down the line if you haven’t made it look like someone’s just returning a much-needed favor.

The reasons I see for making an endorsement, at least in this race, are three: One, you’re convinced one candidate is significantly worse than the other to the extent that it would hurt the city if that candidate won the runoff; two, you want a job in the next administration and don’t mind the potential backlash from such a political pick-and-roll; and three, you’re absolutely not running for anything again and don’t care what anyone else thinks about what you do. Endorsing one candidate over another in such a close race is risking something else: your own political future.