Dick Armey, a former House majority leader who served with two of Tennessee's three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, threw his support to Ed Bryant yesterday and criticized Van Hilleary's work style.

"I knew Van Hilleary, and I knew Ed by virtue of Ed's work. I just didn't find Van to be the guy that was attending to work,"Armey said while stumping with Bryant in Republican East Tennessee.

"Van, just frankly, didn't show up. He was there in town. He was present at a lot of places where the TV cameras were, but he wasn't at the House, in his office, in the committee rooms, someplace where the real workers were," said Armey, a Texas Republican.

Hilleary's campaign said Armey was still disgruntled over policy disagreements between the two.