High profile Tennessee political blog shuttered in budget cutting move

It was very sad to hear of the layoff of A.C. Kleinheider, the writer of VolunteerVoters, today by Nashville TV station WKRN.

The media business is a tough business these days. Hard decisions are made. I don't envy the ones making them.  It's sad to see VolunteerVoters go after a year, 11 months and 13 days..

There is more perspective on VolunteerVoters and Kleinheider from

Ginger Snaps

Newscoma

R. Neal

Sean Braisted

And from Kleinheider's last post:

My tenure here was much like a dream from which I've just begun to awaken. I hear the alarm. It went off a few hours ago. My eyes are still closed but my mind is slowly becoming aware of my surroundings. Before I do get up and splash that water on face though, let me say this.

I have always been a voracious reader of political news and opinion and to have the names of the people I'd see in print both in the body of text and the byline of those stories know my name was a thrill. To have some of them speak to me as if I were some sort of peer or respectable member of the press was a surreal experience I never really wrapped my head around.

Of course, that only happened because I was standing on the shoulders of some very generous people. Those people, of course, were you, the bloggers whose words I cut and pasted and the commenters whose sometimes inspired, sometimes delightfully ad hominem words made this space a "go-to" hub for those interested in Tennessee politics to come and see "what was going on in blogosphere."

Best of luck! We may have heard the last of VolunteerVoters, but I'm sure we haven't heard the last of A.C. Kleinheider.

Update: Katie Allison Granju posted a more complete roundup of react this morning. And SayUncle weighs in.