Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell had a more than inconvenient bout of influenza that kept her away from the Hamblen County Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner at the last minute, and that meant that U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander-who had originally asked to be the one to introduce Harwell to the assembled crowd-would be called upon to bey the keynote speaker. The former Governor did not disappoint, taking the opportunity to blast President Obama for his economic policies and point out that our ability to reign in public sector unions and the growth of government is critical to continued economic growth. "There isn't anything wrong with having a government job, I have a government job," Alexander said "but government jobs do not expand our economy."

Tennessee State Republican Chairman Chris Devaney was also in attendance, along with Congressman Phil Roe, and former Congressman David Davis, who Roe defeated in the 2008 Republican Primary. In his remarks, Devaney said that there were some good results of President Obama's policies, and we could see some of those results that night in the persons of State Representatives Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) and Don Miller (R-Morristown) along new Republican Hamblen County Mayor Bill Brittain.

If someone wanted to see a microcosm of how much the Republican Party has grown in influence in Tennessee over the last year, it was on display in Morristown Friday night.