As Tennessee Democrats' electoral fortunes continue crumbling at the state and federal level, some of the party's bright lights are alive, well and leading the state's six largest cities as mayors elected in nonpartisan races.

Former state Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, joined the select group when he was elected Chattanooga mayor in March.

Now there's intense speculation the state Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Caucus Chairman Lowe Finney, is eyeing a bid for mayor of Jackson after announcing last week he would not seek re-election next year to the Legislature.

Democrats also serve as mayors in Memphis (AC Wharton), Nashville (Karl Dean), Knoxville (Madeline Rogero), Clarksville (Kim McMillan) and Murfreesboro (Tommy Bragg). All except Wharton were elected in nonpartisan contests.

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The man who led the charge to outsource big chunks of Tennessee state government to private business has called it quits.

The governor's office announced Friday that General Services Commissioner Steve Cates is leaving to return to the private sector.

It comes just three weeks after the commissioner's spokesperson told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that the commissioner had no plans to resign.

The governor's office now claims that this resignation had been planned for a long time.

In the announcement, Gov. Bill Haslam said that Cates helped with "bringing state government into the 21st Century."

Still, the Brentwood developer, known for his steamroller style, leaves behind a trail of questions.

"This is the way we've always done it - with a big red line through it," Cates said in a video posted on the Department of General Services' website.

Two of Tennessee's top Democratic fund-raisers have joined the national board of Organizing for Action, the group that works to turn grass-roots action into legislative support for President Barack Obama's initiatives.

Real estate executive Bill Freeman and former Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Chip Forrester said they recently accepted invitations to join the 30-member board. The appointments represent something of a coup for Democrats in red-state Tennessee, which Obama lost to Republican Mitt Romney by 20 percentage points last fall.

Lawyers both inside and outside the Pilot Flying J fuel rebate criminal probe agree: Charges against upper-echelon employees are coming, but racketeering likely won't be on the list.

"I wouldn't think they would make it very complicated," said veteran defense attorney James A.H. Bell of prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office.

RICO has two faces. There is its civil side, which allows treble damages should they be proved in a lawsuit, and criminal, which gives the government tools to shut down a suspected racketeering firm long before any criminal prosecution is pursued.

"RICO is broadly written," said University of Tennessee law professor Dwight Aarons.

But attorneys both inside and outside the Pilot Flying J case agree it is unlikely that federal authorities will pursue a criminal RICO prosecution against Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam, his corporate executives or the company itself.

"They don't need to do that," Bell said. "It's too complicated when there are other ways of getting your mark made."