So, our campaign has received many e-mails in the last day or two about the upcoming Tea Party Convention in Nashville, February 4-6th. More to the point, many of you asked me what I think of my opponent, Marsha Blackburn, who seems ready to break her promise to attend this little shindig and introduce her good friend, Sarah Palin, at the gathering.

Well, as I have been saying all along, and as the President remarked tonight, people are fed up with the extremism, the divisiveness and the never-ending partisan bickering we see in Congress every day. Right here in Tennessee, I have been calling for the good people of our state to show the rest of the nation that this kind of nonsense and leaders that encourage it, like Blackburn, is simply not the best way to move our state and nation forward.

As I have said many times before and will to the future, I steadfastly defend our collective right of freedom of assembly and of association. I do this even, especially when, I do not embrace the message of those doing the protesting. However, unlike Congressman Blackburn, who continues to seem much more interested in standing in front of a camera, rather than standing up for those of us in her district, I will continue to work hard at finding solutions to our common challenges. Anyone who has ever achieved anything of real value knows full well that the real hard work is done after the camera stops rolling. Less partisan “talking points” and more positive, innovative action is what we need.

As for Marsha and the TeaBaggers? Well, she can try and spin her almost certain quitting on the Tea Partiers any which we she may. For all any of us knows she may just have caught wind that there were a whole lot of folks fixing to “‘welcome” her and the teabaggers when they descended upon us. And by “welcome,” I mean let them all know they don’t speak for us and that there is an alternative to the extremist politics of Blackburn and the TeaBaggers.

In short, looks like Marsha was expecting a “coronation.” What she may now be trying to avoid is finding herself smack-dab in the middle of a good old democratic, free-for-all. Well, I guess she could always just quit and stay home. Seems that approach is becoming popular in certain circles these days.

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