In exchange, don’t be surprised to see Frist as Wamp’s biggest backer for Senate in 2014, assuming Alexander* is ready to retire (he’ll be 74).

This is not another call for a wholesale, and possibly unrealistic, roundup of all illegal aliens. Rather it is a commonsense approach, giving cops the ability to protect our communities by kicking proven violent offenders out. One county in Tennessee has a relationship with DHS that allows them to identify criminal aliens in county jails. As a result of this relationship, 3,000 aliens were handed over to the federal government and deported last year. By working together at the city, state and federal level, we can prevent senseless crime that afflicts communities around the country. Jamiel's family and citizens in LA have shown us the will in our communities is there. Washington just needs to replace political hand wringing with a little common sense.

A local reporter in the Tri-Cities area of east Tennessee, just across the state line from where Barack Obama did a "town hall" meeting today in Bristol, Va., emailed to tell me that he was "irked" because "there was no media avail for local reporters."

Some of the citizens we met in Overton County told us yet another story about a factory, this time a textile facility, closing down. In their case, not only did folks lose their jobs but the building can’t be used for anything but a factory because of the way it is designed.

This may be the kind of thing where good old-fashioned American ingenuity comes in.  Smart young minds might find a use for that facility – perhaps something in the clean alternative energy realm – that will create jobs. And yes, it takes money.

But if we could revamp the way we spend the federal dollar and target it toward innovative, job-creating projects – not tax breaks for rich folks and the oil industry – there’d be hope for places like Overton County.