Hope (the All American dream) is dying and without it we have nothing. In my own mind, this is where it all starts but today's valid, cynical stance goes much deeper. Every Knoxville citizen wants to go to the polls and vote but I can assure you that no one's going to do it until first they have hope, then they have action, and then they have trust.

Sitting down at Remedy Coffee in the Old City with city mayoral candidate Mark Padgett on April 26th a few things came across real fast: He's confident, decisive, firm and controlled. The well-dressed Padgett smiles a lot and has a boyish charm while maintaining the manhood of his father. In fact, as I sat there and spoke with him I couldn't help but see his father in almost everything about him.

"I grew up in a family of politicians," Padgett says. "It was normal for me to be asked tough questions at a very early age. I'd be sitting at the breakfast table and I'd be asked which was better: Do you recycle or do you build a bigger incinerator? That's just one example of many and, at 7 years old, you're expected to have an answer."

To read the full story, please go to the Knoxville Daily Sun.