House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, talks to a House          member as the 108th General Assembly is reconvened          Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, in Nashville.                      
    NASHVILLE -- Traditionally an insider's affair, the contest for    the Tennessee state House's most powerful post -- the    speakership -- has been anything but that this year.  
    With Rep. Rick Womick, R-Rockvale, challenging Republican    Speaker Beth Harwell in Wednesday's GOP Caucus election,    various tea party groups, anti-Common Core activists and the    Tennessee Firearms Association have been bombarding Republican    representatives with emails and phone calls in support of    Womick.  
    Just last week, the Tennessee Republican Assembly and the heads    of the Chattanooga and Nashville tea parties entered the fray,    praising Womick as a "true patriot" and "true conservative" and    arguing that his elevation to speaker "would further the true    intention of Tennessee voters as expressed in the recent    elections."  
    "The Coalition believes that this level of support should be    reflected by a Speaker as conservative as the voters who have    made this possible," the group said in its news release.  
    Efforts to reach Chattanooga Tea Party President Mark West on    Monday were unsuccessful.  
    Harwell is seen as having the upper hand in the 73-member GOP    Caucus contest as she seeks a third two-year term. Since    Democrats have only 26 seats, the real race is among    Republicans.  
    Womick helped lead a House rebellion last legislative session    against Common Core standards and has denounced Republican Gov.    Bill Haslam as a "self-serving autocrat."  
    The sometimes-fiery Womick also has attacked now-departing    Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman. And he has accused    Haslam's chief of staff, Mark Cate, of having tried    unsuccessfully to recruit GOP candidates to run against him in    his House district primary last summer.  
    "That is totally crazy," Cate said in an interview. "I had no    involvement at all. This is crazy. I have no idea why he's    picked us out, but it's totally untrue."  
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Tea party seeks to crash Tennessee House speaker race