Early voting in Tennessee starts Wednesday.
That's Oct. 17 for those of you plugging the days into your iCalender or whatever web widget helps you manage your time.
Wednesday also marks the first day the editorial pages of the Times Free Press start endorsing candidates. Almost assuredly, the left-leaning Times will hail the benefits of the Democratic candidates and the right-leaning Free Press will trumpet the merits of the Republicans.
The only thing that may be more important than being a voter is being an informed voter.
Jay GreesonSo this week's endorsements are important. And, if you will allow me a moment, the simple fact that your Times Free Press is one of the only daily publications with both left- and right-sided editorial staff should make you proud in these times of "fake news" and "media bias."
We are suffering through the social tsunami of slander when it comes to politics. Candidates are taking more and more money from special-interest groups to tell you more and more about the shortcomings of their opponents.
It's nauseating. And it's a persistent theme among three of the most intriguing November races before us.
First, there's the Ted Cruz-Beto O'Rourke U.S. Senate race in Texas, which has become a lightning rod of interest because Democratic challenger O'Rourke has vowed not to take a penny from political action committees. That's a bold strategy, and if it proves successful - especially against an entrenched Republican such as Cruz in a state like Texas that Donald Trump carried by more than 9 percent in 2016.
If O'Rourke's method works, it could be a flag-bearer for those who were enchanted by the "Drain the Swamp" chants two years ago.
The next most interesting race may be in Georgia, where early voting started Monday. The back-and-forth between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp for the governor's mansion in a traditional Republican stronghold will certainly have the nation's attention over the next month.
This one has everything a political scientist would want to study and a Hollywood filmmaker would want to direct. A black woman vs. a Southern white man. Allegations of voter suppression and phrases including "outside agitators," which sounds like something you would hear at a Civil War reenactment at Chickamauga Battlefield.
Kemp is the secretary of state and oversees elections in Georgia, and the NAACP in the state is threatening to sue him over unprocessed voting applications.
If you needed more drama in this one, well, Abrams is aiming to become the first female black governor in U.S. history, and if that happened in Georgia, well, write your own headline.
And speaking of headlines, that leads us to the race right here in our backyard as Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn are running to succeed Bob Corker.
The public back-and-forth between those two makes the campaign feel more like a divorce hearing than a political race. It's the ultimate "he claimed, she claimed" avalanche of negativity.
And there's the rub. Sure, I've spoken with each. I have made up my mind. But I'm not an endorser of candidates. That's way above my pay grade.
But my advice: Be educated; know the races and the issues; know the candidates.
And pick the one who spells out what they are going to do to help you and your family and your home state, not the one who spends too much time telling you how bad his or her opponent is.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343.