It's been busy, and it could get busier

As you may have read over at Vibinc's place, former House Majority Leader and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Kim McMillan of Clarksville came to Drinking Liberally last night; we hope to have pictures up later. She is friendly, down to earth, and impressed me that she has the personality and skillsets necessary to lead the state. It's still early, but I liked what I heard. go click on her name and check out the website.

Tonight, I attended a reception and then an impromptu gathering afterwards featuring House Speaker Kent Williams (CCR -Elizabethton), House Democratic Leader Gary Odom (D-Nashville), and House Democratic Caucus Chair Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory). Williams impressed me off the bat as being someone who has a understanding of where we are as a state and that now is not the time for silliness, and as someone who will work with anyone, but NOT someone who suffer fools (Hello, Stuntbaby of Germantown) gladly. He is still very much a Republican, but one who knows that we have to get things done in Nashville, because people are suffering.

This is Speaker Williams' first ever visit to Memphis, and we welcome him as he tours the city this weekend.

I also met with SCDP Chair candidate Javier Bailey, I will be talking to him further as several of us in the blogosphere meet all Chair candidates. He understands the problems, we will talk more about solutions later.

Well, there will be more as the weekend goes on, it's time to hit the hay.

Speaker Williams punks Brian Kelsey for the second straight day!

Heh, Pith In The Wind has all the excitement!  

"Any other personal orders?" indeed, sir, indeed.  Well played, Speaker Williams, well played.

I think I could get used to saying Speaker Williams.

Peanut Butter Jelly with a baseball bat indeed.  Ok, I'll stop now.

So what do the Mumpower Republicans do at this point?

Speaker Williams has apparently promised to appoint BOTH Republicans and Democrats to committee chairmanships.  

Should the Mumpower 49 turn up their nose at the chance to share power and look like overly partisan fools at a time of financial calamity in the state, or do they take what's offered and call the bluff of the Williams 50?  

The average Tennessee voter doesn't give two shits about the inside-baseball stuff that you and I love to the pit of our souls (if you didn't, you wouldn't be here reading about this, now, would you?), and we know that hurt Democrats when it came to the Kurita situation.  WE knew what happened, but the average voter didn't want to know, or care.  They just knew that Kurita won her election and had it taken away from her by those evil Democrats.

And they made us PAY.

So, Mr. Almost-Speaker-But Still-GOP-Leader Mumpower, what are y'all going to do?  Are you going to spend the next two years in a snit, bitching about what could have been, or are you going to learn what it means to govern?

The people of Tennessee are watching.

Gee, anything happen today?

Holy moly, what a day. 

In case you've been in a cave, an East Tennessee Republican was elected Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives today.  Only, his name was NOT Jason Mumpower.

Meet Speaker of the House Kent Williams (R-Elizabethton), who fulfilled his oath to vote for a Republican for Speaker by voting for himself.  Coincidentally, all 49 Democrats voted for the more moderate Williams over the staunch right-winger Mumpower of neighboring Bristol, giving Williams a one-vote landslide victory.

Williams then allowed the outgoing Naifeh the chance to finish the day as the Speaker, nice touch, eh?  

Excuse me for a moment, I can't really keep this in any longer, I'm sorry... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PWNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! W00T!

Ok, thanks for indulging me, at least I didn't go and uh, wait, oh hell, here it comes:

Ok, so that's rubbing it in, I'm sorry, I'll try to do better.

My understanding is that Williams initially got elected by beating one of Mumpower's folks in the 2006 primary, and that Mumpower tried to beat Williams with the same guy last year, but couldn't.  Now, it could be just me, but might Mumpower not have thought that maybe Williams might just be ready for a little payback, especially since they don't see eye-to-eye on the direction of the Republican Party?  I guess not, Mumpower thought he had a massive mandate for change, even with a ONE-VOTE MAJORITY.

Jeff Woods at the Nashville Scene has this account of how it went down:

The plot was hatched over coffee during the Thanksgiving weekend. House Democratic leader Gary Odom went to Elizabethton to meet Kent Williams at his restaurant, Dino's. Out of the blue, Odom asked Williams how he'd like to be the speaker of the House.

"I think his first reaction was he thought I was joking because he knew Speaker Naifeh was working diligently to find the 50th vote," Odom told reporters a few minutes ago. "We were looking for an alternative in case it became necessary, and it became necessary."

That didn't happen, though, until 5 o'clock last night when Naifeh finally gave up on his own hopes and went to Williams to seal their deal. When the session started today, many Democrats weren't even aware of what was about to happen, Naifeh said. That's why Democrats moved for a 30-minute recess, to give themselves time to brief the party's members. (The wily Odom told the House he wanted the recess to give everyone time to take pictures with families in attendance on opening day.) Freshman Republican Terri Lynn Weaver, a gospel singer and apparently not the sharpest knife, unwittingly played into Naifeh's hands when she pushed the wrong button and mistakenly voted with the Democrats to allow the recess.

"It was not widely known and it had to be explained to the members of the House Democratic Caucus," Naifeh told reporters. But if Weaver had voted as she intended, "We would have found another way," Naifeh said.

Wow. 

By and large, the best coverage of the day if you weren't watching it unfold online, was Adam Kleinheider, who has this covered from every angle possible.

Just sit back, read Post Politics and take it all in.  If you were a Democrat, it was awesome.  If not, well......

Other coverage:

Aunt B.

GoldnI

Sean Braisted

KnoxViews

Southern Beale

Wintermute

S-Town Mike

Captain Kona!