UT Martin's College Democrats and the Weakley County Democratic Party welcomed Tennessee Democratic Party Communications Director Zac Wright to campus on Thursday night. Wright spoke about the "Democratic Revival" that is sweeping across Tennessee, and how "it is because of the leadership of good democrats like Governor Phil Bredesen and state legislators Rep. Mark Maddox and Sen. Roy Herron.

With democratic majorities in the state house and state senate, Gov. Bredesen has been able to do things in fewer than two years that Gov. Sundquist was unable to do in eight years.

Bredesen has announced sixteen new industries that will relocate to Tennessee and bring needed jobs to Tennessee families, presented a balanced budget with no new taxes, and is correcting problems in the TennCare program."

Wright also spoke about how the "Democratic Revival" is not just happening in Tennessee but across the nation as well. He said that people are realizing how much things have changes since George W. Bush took office, and how much better off they were four years ago than they are now.

"When Bill Clinton left office the county had a 5.3 trillion dollar budget surplus and now we are faced with 5 trillion dollar deficit."

With those figures a Tennessean with an average middle class income will owe $24,000 as their part of the national debt.

To offset this budget deficit, and help stimulate the economy, President Bush offered tax refunds of $300. In that case, the average middle class Tennessean only owes $21,000 as their part of the national debt.

Wright also noted that since President Bush took office, more and more companies are moving their factories and offices overseas. "When companies move their jobs overseas, they are not penalized by the government for taking jobs from Americans, but instead rewarded with tax breaks."

John Kerry has a plan to reverse this Bush initiative, and increase the tax penalties on companies that take their jobs overseas, and reward the companies that keep their factories and offices in America.

State Representative Mark Maddox was also in attendance at the College Democrats meeting and thanked the UTM college democrats for all the help they given him during his time in office. He also gave an update on what is happening in the state legislature right now. Maddox said that the worker's compensation, TennCare, and balanced budget bills all came out of committee this week and will be debated on the House and Senate floors during the coming weeks. Maddox also spoke of how proud he is to be the State Representative for this district, and part of the democratic majority in Nashville working with Gov. Bredesen. He said that he has noticed how republicans in the state legislature are "trying to lead with their emotions, while democrats are leading with thoughts and their brains. Republicans are trying to plant wedges in the Democratic Party during an election year," according to Maddox.

UT Martin College Democrats thanked the Weakley County Democratic Party for all their support during this successful year, and announced plans to "come back strong in the fall semester, and help democrats keep the seats they have and win the seats they don't."