My opponent, Tim Burchett, is among 228 Republican legislators who have joined a "friend of the court" brief favoring Mississippi's case asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

My position on abortion rights is clear--trust women, and do not impose any level of government between women and their care givers and their choices. If this anti-woman effort is successful, it will not eliminate abortion. It will just eliminate safe and legal abortion, leaving that option only to the wealthy.

It is time for the pro-choice majority in Tennessee to rally to candidates like me--to defeat threats like Tim Burchett.

Both our US Senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, also have signed this brief rolling back women's rights--as have US House members Chuck Fleischmann, Mark Green, Diana Harshbarger, and John Rose.

Very excited to be doing a reading/signing regarding my new book "21st Century Fix." The event is Sunday, March 3rd, 3pm, at Union Avenue Books in Knoxville. --Mark Harmon

My new book is out. "21st Century Fix" is a collection of recent columns. It can be found online, and I'm anticipating several local promotional events, but I'm starting this Saturday 10 am at Gloria Johnson's gathering for canvassing and phone banking, 311 Morgan St. Anyone writing a check for $20 or more to her campaign gets a signed copy.

Great News. I have won the National Press Club's Angele Gingras Humor Award for humorous column writing. The judges said “Harmon has a knack for taking a simple idea or detail -- Mitch McConnell's going to hell, no one remembers meeting the Russian ambassador -- and spinning it into a highly creative scenario.”

The award winners and honorable mention winners will be honored August 30 at the National Press Club in Washington.

Let's huddle up and learn how to write right ... alright?

This is the column that gets written at the end of a semester of teaching news writing!

From the Not-So-Farfetched File

“Welcome to College Football, Battle of the Writing Programs. I’m your announcer Merriam Webster. The play here is like football, but yards gained and lost derive from the rules of good writing. Today we have a clash of collegiate composition titans,” declared Webster. “University of Missouri grinds out yards through solid journalism. Coach Strunk N. White likes punchy, direct sentences. Northwestern’s Creative Writing Program, on the other hand, relies on fancy exposition. Count on Coach Faulkner Steinbeck for elaborate plot twists.”

“I’m joined in the booth by Earnest Penn,” continued Webster.

“The kickoff goes into the end zone. Missouri starts on the 20,” reported Penn. “Fullback Tap Keyes pulls out an I-Phone and writes, ‘The transportation bill was passed by Congress.’ He is slammed for a loss of two yards. Merriam, what happened there?”

“Well, you’re not going to get anywhere in this league writing in passive voice,” responded Webster.

If you are unable to see this column in its entirety on the KNS site, send me a PM.