Well, he is a Vanderbilt Grad Student, and his middle-name may in fact be Mike...

I didn't realize there was a rule that you must share your identity with party officials when you attend public political events. If that's a new rule at Republican gatherings I guess I better get LifeLock.

Personally, I don't care about the personal lives of party officials unless they were recently fired from a previous job or were arrested. But I could be convinced to start caring more.

"But lying about your identity isn't."

Wasn't aware we yet lived in a nation where one had to present identity papers at a public courthouse. Did I miss something?

When a store clerk asks for my phone number, I tell them it is unlisted. It's not. I lied!

Apparently I too could be a master of divinity, and I am not even religious.

Oh bloody no, he lied to someone who really did not need to no who he was. That is like using your friends membership card to get into a Costco or get a discount at a local drug store.

I was at one time an assistant teacher for classes in both the Vanderbilt M.Div. and Religious Studies programs. I can speak from experience that politics is definitely part of the curriculum. A good number of M.Div. students were oriented to local politics when I was there, so technically I would not consider it lying.

Perhaps your parochial Belmont experience is coloring your view of M.Div. programs elsewhere. And you're big on the new media as an alternative to the mainstream. How is this any different from undercover reporting, which could also be called "lying"? Could he find out as much inside information if walks in with a Democratic button on saying, "Hi, I'm Wade, a liberal and an M.Div. student at Vanderbilt"?

Why pretend & lie? If one is secure in the correctness of what they're doing & it doesn't involve a need for subterfuge, why lie?

Whitehorse, there is a good reason to pretend to be a nobody at open political meetings. Politicians talk differently to nobodies. Sometimes they lie. If Jesus had entered the same Republican meetings Wade did proclaiming to be the son of God, Jesus wouldn't have heard half the stuff he would if he just pretended to be some hippie nobody.

Yes, Christian, but if you want to be unnoticed, slip in the back and don't pull out a fancy, expensive near-pro-grade video camera and start taping. If you do pull out the video cam, expect to be asked by campaign staffers who you are - they have every right to inquire. Campaigns want to know if media is present, if so which media, or if there is a tracker from the other side present. They want to know if a person is a tracker from the other side because a common Dem tactic is to have an activist with a video camera interrupt press conferences with shouted questions, trying to goad the candidate into lashing out.

If you take a video camera to a campaign event and a campaign staffer inquires as to your identity and who you represent or are working for, the right thing to do is to tell the truth.

er.. why do you guys allow partisan campaign functions to be held at the public courthouse? We just went after one of our officeholders for putting up signs for his off-site event in our city county building.

To me, if you're doing something in a public space, you have no right to bar access, and no standing to interrogate him. If you want to control access, then hold it off site. You're using the taxpayer's space at THEIR pleasure, and you should be grateful and SILENT.

Having spent a few years in the political world, I can attest to the tactics of the Fletcher, et al.. This is just par for the course. They make a lot of money doing the dirty work of the Tenn Dem Party.

The fact he's wearing a Yager sticker undermines his credibility substantially. With that alone he is misrepresenting himself and his purpose unless he's a real supporter.

Good job at uncovering this fraud.

I think the story is a good reminder to people who are new to the inside process of elections. Things get dirty and it is definitely warfare. I think too often conservatives rely on being right on issues and turn the other cheek when people play hardball. It is the side no one wants to acknowledge like the elephant in the room (no pun intended). Thanks for the talking about it!

Yes, it certainly looks as though he's causing a ruckus in that photo.

Give the kid a break, he didn't hurt anybody by doing this, the candidate didn't alter his speech in some way, so what's the difference? And I have some problems with your sources here. If the kid had a big, nice video camera why was he not carrying it in the picture that was posted?

I read this website a lot, and this is just dissapointing.

Sorry Democrat tactics. Certainly he had the right to be there, and I would expect them to have someone there. But, do purposely mis represent himself is wrong. Not only did he lie about his name (as collaborated apparently by numerous witnesses), he misrepresented himself as a Yager support. Tacky, dirty, under-handed Democratic shenanigans!

They all just want to capture a macaca moment and get credit for burying an up and rising candidate. Allen would likely be our next president if it were not for his incident; so something like this is a feather in the cap, a notch on the belt, a trophy in the case; for another 'up and rising' mind-numb liberal. He's probably bragging about it to his buddies over at Pith or certainly would be if he'd caught anything that could have been taken out of context and amplified out of proportion by the megaphone of the media.

Andrew,

Are you equally incensed at tacky, dirty, under-handed shenanigans when Republicans are involved? Remember Rove and from whom he learned his craft.

Why did Mr Yager refuse to answer his questions? He is running for a public office, he should be ready and willing to answer questions, unless he has something to hide...hmmmmm

Who said Mr. Yager refused to answer "Mike's" questions? But if he did - so what? If you as a candidate know that your questioner really is a plant or a tracker from the opposition trying to bait you into a gaffe or a "macaca moment," why would you spend a second of your time reacting or responding to that person?

IT is very exciting to hear that Mr Yager is still attracting the Registered Democrat as a voting constituant. I trust Mike will follow through with his public statement to "Support Ken Yager".