Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey told the Chattanooga Pachyderm Club on Monday that the nation needs Fred Thompson as president.
Lt. Gov. Ramsey said, "I have seen the excitement this man generates when this man walks into a room. There is a void out there just waiting for him to fill the void."
He said, "If it's Hillary Clinton versus Fred Thompson, just watch out. We're going to wipe them up."
The speaker said Republicans "are just four seats short" of taking over the state House, and he said having former Sen. Thompson on the ticket would help achieve that.
He said the Senate this last legislative session passed a number of conservative measures that did not get through the House.
Lt. Gov. Ramsey said as soon as he became the first GOP lieutenant government in 140 years, Democrats began talking about having voters choose the holder of that office.
He said he has no problem with that and would like to have other offices, including secretary of state, filled by voters.
Lt. Gov. Ramsey said in the last session, legislators were told there was a $400 million surplus and the higher cigarette tax would bring in another $219 million. He said they then learned of an additional $300 million surplus.
He said, "All of that extra money is coming from the taxpayers."
He said GOP leaders were distressed about "over-collecting" on taxes, but he said Democrats were saying, "Think what we can do with all that money."
Lt. Gov. Ramsey said Republicans insisted that $250 million of the extra money be put into the state's rainy day fund - boosting it to $750 million.
He said he placed more conservative members on two key committees - finance and commerce.