Dressed sharply in a dark suit, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., captured the attention of an overflowing ballroom at the General Morgan Inn on Friday.

There were plenty of indications, though, that, in their mind's eye, many of those at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner recalled the famous red-and-black plaid shirt that Alexander sported in his 1,000-mile campaign trek across the state in his successful campaign for the governorship in 1978.

The former governor, now Tennessee's senior U.S. Senator and an influential figure in the Senate, served as the keynote speaker during Friday evening's dinner, hosted by the Greene County Republican Women's Club.