Huckaboom brings candidate good, bad news
Alexander sees leadership post as positive for state
Heart attacks peak during the holidays
Is Vanderbilt pursuing Condoleezza Rice?

Huckaboom brings candidate good, bad news
The Memphis Commercial Appeal
Monday, Dec. 10

When Politics Today last checked on Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign in early September, the former Arkansas governor had been cast in the role of a quirky-but-colorful underdog.

He was a wisecracking, guitar-playing Southern charmer with an inspiring "fat-to-fit" self-help story.

He was getting some media attention back then, although more as a passing curiosity than as a serious contender for the nation's highest office.

A lot has changed. The Iowa caucuses -- the first test of the primary season -- are less than a month away.

Huckabee is now a wisecracking, guitar-playing Southern charmer who also happens to be leading the Republican polls in the Hawkeye State.

Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, is quoted.

Alexander sees leadership post as positive for state
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Monday, Dec. 10

With his ascension to the No. 3 leadership post in the Senate Republicans' caucus, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will assume some new responsibilities.

As the new Republican conference chairman, he inherits a staff of more than 20, oversees the Senate GOP communications operation and shapes leadership initiatives.

Despite the added duties, Sen. Alexander said, his work for Tennessee will not take a back seat. The state, he said, will benefit from his heightened position in the leadership hierarchy.

Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, is quoted.

Heart attacks peak during the holidays
The Washington Post
Sunday, Dec. 9

The holiday season is also the season for heart attack, warns cardiologist Dr. Keith Churchwell, associate director of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

According to Churchwell, a look at a U.S. database of 53 million deaths occurring between 1973 and 2001 reveals that deaths from heart disease peak in December/January, with spikes on Christmas and New Year's Day.

Is Vanderbilt pursuing Condoleezza Rice?
The Tennessean
Monday, Dec. 10

Internet whispers resurfaced last week that Vanderbilt University may be trying to woo U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the chancellor post vacated by Gordon Gee earlier this year.

Ilissa Gold, a Nashville-area student attending Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., who keeps online tabs on her hometown through her blog Goldni.Blogspot.com, linked to an item at DailyKos.com speculating about the university's intentions.

"The university has demonstrated its love for the Secretary of State in the past. In 2004, Rice received Vanderbilt's first-ever Chancellor's Medal for 'contributions to academia and society,' " wrote "R o o k," an online diarist for DailyKos.