U.S. Sen Lamar Alexander says he'll walk the state again if that's what it takes to win reelection.  "And I can do it, too!"

Alexander was elected governor in 1978 after walking 1,000 from Bristol to Memphis. His threat to reverse that walk drew laughter and applause from a crowd of partisans at Cedar Bluff Shopping Center on June 21 in what billed as a Statewide Day of Action.  

State Sen. Randy McNally said volunteers were heading out after the speech to knock on doors. U.S. Rep. Jimmy Duncan said Alexander has been endorsed by all seven Repubican U.S. House mebers, Sen. Bob Corker, Gov. Bill Haslam and "13 former state Republican Party chairs."

Alexander is "more conservative than he gets credit for," Duncan said.

Alexander sonded traditional themes predicting the GOP will pick up six Senate seats and "start moving the country in the right direction."

"You can't be pro-jons and anti-business. We need to lift the big wet blanket of Obama regulations off our free-enterprise system" to get our country moving again, he said.

Alexander, 74, looked and sounded 20 years younger. He found friends in Knoxville, including those from Blount and Loudon counties.