December 4, 2024 - Big Mules Ain’t All Bad
Our legendary governor of the 1940’s and 1950’s was the giant,cartoonish, character James E. “Big Jim” Folsom. Ole Big Jim ran against the big businesses of Birmingham – big banks, utilities, and U.S. Steel – and labeled them the “Big Mules.” He campaigned on the back of a flatbed truck in every hamlet in the state. He would dance and sing with his band, the Strawberry Pickers, and rail against the Big Mules of Birmingham and the Big Planters of the Black Belt.
George Wallace came onto the scene in the 1960’s. Wallace was a protégé of Big Jim Folsom. Wallace, like Big Jim, Huey Long of Louisiana, and other southern political demagogues, knew you had to find a boogeyman to run against. Wallace had an easy target. His boogeyman was the race issue. He became the most ardent racist segregationist in the south. However, that issue played out when Blacks were given the right to vote in 1965,and quickly constituted 25% of the electorate. Wallace had to find a new boogeyman to run against, so like his mentor, Big Jim, Wallace went after the last Big Mule standing – Alabama Power Company. Wallace was the ultimate demagogue, but history reveals that what is good for Alabama Power is good for Alabama.
While nobody likes paying power bills, most of us fail to consider what we get for our money. We want to see the lights come on when we flip the switch and Alabama Power does a better job at making that happen than just about anybody.
Three years ago, a historic winter blast of cold air on Christmas Eve made the lights go out in Georgia. They also went out in Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Tennessee Valley of Alabama, as rolling blackouts spread across the South. However, the lights stayed on in Alabama Power territory. Yet, when the lights do go out in the middle of the storm, you can rest assured a lineman from Alabama Power will weather the storm, leaving his home and family to get the power back on for your home and family.
Alabama Power does more than just keep the lights on. It has been the driving force behind economic development in Alabama for an entire century. Today, while industries are abandoning plans for investments in other southern statesbecause they cannot get a reliable supply of electricity, business is booming in Alabama Power territory. This is because the leadership of Alabama Power has refused to buckle to left-wing advocates that suggest we run steel mills and factories off solar panels and windmills.
A group calling itself Conservatives for Clean Energy has hired shady political operatives to attack Alabama Power and promote so-called “clean energy.” Anytime a pro-solar and pro-windmill group puts the word “conservative” in their name, you can bet there is nothing conservative about them.
Fortunately, for the past decade, our Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, has had strong leadership and the backbone to stand up to the left-wing forces that would have us sitting in the dark, freezing, and paying higher bills. The President of the PSC, Twinkle Cavanaugh, is as smart and tough as they come. Along with her fellow commissioners, she has held the line on regulations that keep the lights on, the jobs coming, and the cost of electricity around the national average.
To the contrary, Texas deregulated utilities a few years ago and left power suppliers on their own to meet the demands of America’s second-biggest state. Windmills and solar panels went up everywhere and utilities cut their maintenance budgets to the bone. Then, in the winter of 2021, the sun went down, the windmills literally froze up, and people started dying. Even as late as this past August, Texas faced rolling blackouts because the utilities could not meet demand.
One reason Alabama is not Texas is because our Public Service Commission demanded that Alabama Power put Alabama families, businesses, and industries ahead of the left-wing environmentalist agenda. It is the PSC’s job to hold the power company and all the businesses they regulate accountable, and they do. The Commission has proven it will hold the power company’s feet to the fire. For example, the PSC has not granted a rate increase since 2021, and the commission monitors the cost of fuel and other expenses on a monthly basis. The PSC has done an excellent job requiring the power company to cut the fat without sacrificing the muscle needed to care for Alabama families and create more jobs.
Some people will keep taking shots at Alabama Power because they are an obvious Big Mule boogeyman – but it has always been true, if you’ve got a heavy load to pull you need a big mule.
See you next week.
November 27, 2024 - Alabama vs. Auburn Game
The only sport that Alabamians enjoy more than Alabama politics is college football. We especially love the Alabama vs. Auburn football game – one of the fiercest of college football rivalries. It is the game of the year. It is a state civil war that divides friends and families. It is bragging rights for the entire year. The loser must live with his boasting next-door neighbor for 364 days. You must choose a side even if you despise college football and could not care less who wins. Newcomers to our state are bewildered on this fall day each year. They cannot comprehend the madness that surrounds this epic war.
Young boys all over Alabama grow up playing football in their front yards and dream of playing in this big game. It is often said that when these two rivals meet one can throw out the record books. However, this is not true. In 90% of the meetings the favorite has won. A lot of SEC championships and bowl games have been decided in this game. It has made many Alabamians’ Thanksgiving holiday either joyous or sad.
The game was not played for 40 years between 1908 and 1948. Myth has it that the game was halted because of the intense rivalry. However, that is not the case. The history is that after the 1907 game, the schools could not agree on the terms of the contract. The dispute involved meal money, lodging, officials,and how many players each side could bring. Football was not the passion it is today, so the two schools let the matter rest and the fans did not seem to care. That began to change as college football grew to a major sport in the 1940s.
When the series resumed, a popular rumor is the Alabama legislature called a special meeting and forced the teams to play. That never happened, but the House of Representatives did pass a resolution in 1947 to encourage, not force, the schools to meet in football, and officials at Alabama and Auburn agreed. The presidents of Auburn and Alabama simply decided it would be in the best interest of the schools to start playing again.
A contract was drawn up, papers signed, and the rivals literally buried the hatchet. On the morning of December 4, 1948, the presidents of each school’s student body dug a hole in Birmingham’s Woodrow Wilson Park, tossed a hatchet in, and buried it. The series resumed in 1948 with a 55-0 Alabama victory and the teams have squared off every season since.
Many of you have seen signs and car tags that simply say, “A house divided,” with half the tag emblem being Auburn and the other symbolic of the Alabama Crimson Tide. There are many families in our state where one spouse went to Auburn and the other attended Alabama. The family that epitomizes this “house divided” adage of my generation is Joe and Katie Espy of Montgomery.
Joe is an Alabama man through and through. Espy is one of our state’s most gifted and successful attorneys. He grew up in Abbeville and journeyed onto the University of Alabama where he began his meteoric legal/political career. He was President of the SGA at the Capstone, then graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law. Many expected Joe to enter politics and probably become governor. However, he has lived a better life as one of the state’s top lawyers.
Katie Espy was born and raised in Eufaula. She was “Miss Everything” at Eufaula High School, including head cheerleader. She went straight to Auburn where she became a cheerleader for the Auburn Tigers. Joe and Katie have been married for 54 years. Every Auburn vs. Alabama game, Katie dons her orange and blue attire and Joe dresses in crimson and white.
As stated earlier, Joe Espy is from Abbeville. Guess who grew up around the corner from him? None other than Jimmy Rane, the Yella Fella. Espy and Rane are both 78 and were born only three months apart and grew up as best friends and neighbors.
Joe has probably been the most ardent Alabama alumnus and fan in history. He was a University of Alabama trustee for over a decade. Jimmy Rane is the most devoted Auburn man in Auburn history. He has been one of the largest benefactors of Auburn for 50 years and a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees for 25 years. These two outstanding gentlemen epitomize loyalty to their alma maters and grew up together in Abbeville – a town of 2,000, which is probably evenly divided on Iron Bowl Day.
As I have said many times in the past, Alabama is one big front porch.
WAR EAGLE and ROLL TIDE!
See you next week.
November 20, 2024 - The Trump Triumph
Our 45th President, Donald J. Trump, was elected as our 47thPresident on November 5. He not only won, he won overwhelmingly. Under the Electoral College system, our President is elected not by popular vote, but by a system where each state casts the same number of votes as they have Representatives and Senators in Congress. We, in Alabama, have seven Congressmen and two Senators. Therefore, we have nine electoral votes.
National voters and the media knew in this 2024 Presidential election, there were seven pivotal battleground states that would determine the outcome of the Presidential race. They were Georgia and North Carolina in the south, both with 16 electoral votes – pretty good prizes, Arizona and Nevada in the West, and the ultimate battleground Rust Belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in the Midwest. There were all kinds of formulas and scenarios as to how these states would fall and which ones Trump or his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would win. Polls revealed all seven states were showing dead even contests leading up to the election. According to all polls, no winner could be projected. Not even the Las Vegas oddsmakers could predict a clear winner.
Trump claimed a tremendous triumph on election night. He won all seven of the battleground states, including the Blue Wall big three of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. It was like a giant red wave that swept those three pivotal states, as well as every red state, which was the vast majority of the rest of the country.
Trump’s triumph was so prolific that he had coattails which enabled the Republicans to garner a majority in the U.S. Senate. They were expected to pick up seats in West Virginia and Montana, but Trump’s triumphant journey gave them two more seats in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Going into November 5th, Democrats had a majority in the Senate of 51 to 49. In January when Trump is inaugurated and the Senate organizes, there will be a Republican majority of 53 to 47. This is a mandate for Trump, which will allow him to enact his legislative agenda –but more importantly, appointments, and advise and consent of federal judges and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Speaking of courts, the federal courts gave the Democrats one of Alabama’s Congressional Seats. Currently, we have six Republicans and one Democrat. Last year, federal judges handed the Democrats a seat and re-drew Alabama’s congressional lines from the bench. They made the new 2nd Congressional District in south Alabama a seat that should vote 60% for a Democrat. The race for this seat was the only good, contested race on the Alabama ballot this year. It featured Democrat Shomari Figures and an impressive new Republican first time candidate,Caroleene Dobson. She made it a close race. Figures, the Democrat, won with 55% of the vote. You may not have heard the last of this race or the last of Caroleene Dobson on the Alabama political scene.
Our five incumbent Republican Congressmen, Robert Aderholt, Mike Rogers, Gary Palmer, Dale Strong, and Barry Moore were overwhelmingly reelected with no or token opposition, as was Democrat Terri Sewell. Figures will join Sewell when they organize. We will have two Democrats and five Republicans on the Potomac.
Alabama did its part in electing Donald Trump. He carried 65% of the vote in the Heart of Dixie. His best yet. He got 63% four years ago. This was Trump’s third triumph in Alabama. The Republican candidate for President has carried our state in the last 12 Presidential races going back 48 years.
Trump’s triumph is good for Alabama. With us being a Republican state and having both our U.S. Senators as Republicans and five of our seven Congressmen in the GOP with Trump, we should be in the “catbird” seat. Both of our Senators, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt, are in very good graces with Trump. Tuberville is especially close to Trump. In fact, Tuberville is probably Trump’s closest friend and ally in the Senate. They golf regularly together at Mar-a-Lago. It was expected that if Harris had won and Republicans remained in the minority in the Senate, that Tuberville was eyeing running for Governor in 2026, rather than reelection to his Senate seat,which is up in the same year. However, with Trump in the White House and Republicans in the majority, Tuberville wouldprobably like to remain in the Senate.
See you next week.
November 13, 2024 - 2026 Governor’s Race Has Begun
Over the past year, I have been on a speaking tour throughout the state – especially leading up to the General Election on November 5. The reason for my visiting and speaking to civic organizations was to discuss the national Presidential Race and its evolvement, as well as how the race for the White House affects Alabamians.
It was one of the most unusual, interesting topsy turvy Presidential contests I can remember. It was entertaining to say the least. After my talks, I left time for questions from the audiences. You would think that the first, and most important questions would pertain to the Presidential contest. However, that was not the most prevalent inquiry. In almost all 30 venues, the most asked question was who will follow Kay Ivey as Governor and who is running for Governor in 2026.
My answer is that it will indeed be one of the most interesting and entertaining Governors Race in decades. With Kay Ivey unable to run for another term, there will be no incumbent.There are three obvious successors to the throne that are immediately brought to the forefront: Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, and AgricultureCommissioner Rick Pate. They all three must go somewhere else, because all three are term-limited in their current posts.
Will Ainsworth is considered the prohibitive favorite by all Montgomery insiders. He has indeed been doing his homework and has been campaigning non-stop for Governor for the past six years, as Lt. Governor. He has locked up the Montgomery political lobbying money. This, in and of itself, probably puts him miles ahead of Marshall and Pate.
Ainsworth does not need any of the big lobbyists’ money. He has enough money on his own. His Daddy’s money is enough to fund several Governor’s races. His father has already shown thathe will help his boy as much as he needs. He bought him the Lt. Governor’s office and can buy him the Governor’s office. However, Ainsworth’s move to garner the big Montgomery money is an astute political maneuver because it prohibits his competitors from gaining access to these donors. Afterall, money is the “mother’s milk of politics,” and this is Ainsworth’s calling card.
Marshall and Pate cannot compete with Ainsworth financially. Marshall has built a following among the ultra-right-wing, social conservative base but these folks do not have any money, and the ones who do, do not give. Again, money is the “mother’s milk of politics.” Therefore, Pate and Marshall are relegated to being also rans in the brass ring race. However, they would be big dogs in the Lt. Governor’s Race, which looks to be drawing quite a crowd.
My response to audiences early in the year was Ainsworth is the early favorite because of his family money, but there is a big vacuum for an unknown candidate. 2026 could be another 1978 where a Fob James-like candidate comes out of the dark and buys the Governor’s office. A 60ish businessman who built his or her own business and made their own money is more attractive than a 40-year-old boy whose daddy has a lot of money.
The most popular and successful mayor in the state, Tommy Battle, would be a major player for governor. However, being mayor of the largest and most prosperous city in the state, if not nation, is a better job than being Governor of Alabama.
However, in the past month or so, a name has surfaced in the 2026 Governor’s Race that will turn the tide and change the landscape of the race. Coach Tommy Tuberville is rumored to be considering a run for Governor in 2026. His Senate Seat is also up for election in 2026. He got to the Senate at age 65, which is not the best age to arrive in the U.S. Senate and attain any power under the seniority system. He is 70 and looking at another six-year term as a 70ish back bencher.
He has his detractors, but polling reveals he is very popular in Alabama. He has over 75% name identification with high positives. Whereas, Ainsworth, Marshall, and Pate only have 20% name identification. Tuberville would automatically become the favorite and Ainsworth and Marshall would probably look hard at Tuberville’s Senate Seat.
Coach Tuberville needs to decide and move quickly because,folks, the race has begun.
See you next week.
November 6, 2024 - Alabama is a One-Party State
Alabama is a one-party, ruby red Republican state. This is a given in both state and national political races – especially presidentially, as you saw earlier this week.
The proof is in the pudding. With Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s triumphant conquest of our state on Tuesday, that makes 12 straight Presidential races in which the GOP candidate has carried our state. Trump has carried Alabamaby more than 60% in the last three Presidential cycles – 2016, 2020, and now 2024.
Prior to the Civil War, conservatives in Alabama were Whigs. The Whigs were well-heeled former Virginians and were slave owners. They settled in the Black Belt around the Alabama river. These gentlemen, even though small in population, monopolized and controlled state politics.
The Republican Party came to power as the party that abolished slavery. They enacted an extremely vengeful and devastating reconstruction upon the white people of the South, both rich and poor, slave owner or yeoman farmer. The radical Republicans did not discriminate. They took their vengeance out on all white people. Reconstruction lasted 11 years, 1866-1876. It cemented an inherent hatred towards the national Republican Party. Alabama and our sister Southern states swore allegiance to the Democratic Party. Alabama became and remained a totally Democratic state for almost 90 years, 1876 to 1964.
This Democratic loyalty was instilled by the yoke of Reconstruction. This loathing towards radical Republican rule was handed down from one generation to the next. Many a dying southern grandfather told their children and grandchildren on their deathbed, “One, don’t ever sell the family farm, and secondly, don’t ever vote for any damn Republican.” That is why you would hear old people saying, “My grandaddy would roll over in his grave if I voted for a Republican.” That is how the term “yellow dog” Democrat began. It was said that if a yellow dog were the Democratic candidate, he would win. This Democratic solidarity really made Alabama a no party state because all the activity was in one party and primary.
Alabamians cared very little about national politics or presidential elections between 1876-1964. They just voted for the Democrat in a perfunctory manner. The Democratic candidate for President carried Alabama in every election during those 90 years, but that all changed 60 years ago, today.
It changed presidentially and congressionally in the 1964 Southern Goldwater Landslide. We started voting Republican for national offices that year and have not looked back. The GOP captured the Governor’s office in 1986. It has been that way for now close to 40 years.
Folks, when we change, we really change. We do not do things halfway. Sixty years ago, every statewide official was a Democrat. Every state judge was a Democrat. Our entire congressional delegation was Democratic, and our legislature was unanimously Democratic. We were a Democratic state more out of tradition than philosophy.
Today, we are arguably one of the most Republican states in America from top to bottom. Since 1964, there have been 16 presidential elections, and Alabama has voted for the GOP nominee in 14 of those 16 contests, including this year’s Trump win in our state.
Jimmy Carter is the only Democrat that has carried Alabama in the last 60 years, and that was by a very slim margin in 1976,almost 50 years ago. George Wallace and his American Independent Party won the state in 1968. Therefore, the American Independent Party has won as many presidential contests in the Heart of Dixie as the Democratic Party has over the past 60 years.
Our Congressional delegation reflects a Republican dominance.Every statewide elected official in Alabama is a Republican. Republican control of Alabama politics today is so dominantthat we can safely be called a one-party state, again.
The Republican Party nomination for statewide office, today, is tantamount to election. This Republican dominance of Alabama will continue unabated in the Heart of Dixie for the foreseeable future.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
See you next week.
October 30, 2024 - Presidential Election Next Week
America will elect its 47th President next week. At least 99% of the votes will be cast by American citizens. With millions of illegal immigrants having poured through our country’s southern border over the past four years, there will be some illegal ballots cast by non-citizens. The opening of the border by the Democratic administration was permitted to allow these illegal immigrants to vote Democratic.
Fortunately, most of these illegal votes will be cast in California, because Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott had the foresight to steer the flow of illegal immigrants to California or bus them to other liberal Democratic sanctuary cities. Thus, any illegal immigrant votes will not affect the bottom-line result, because these states are left-wing, blue Democratic states anyway. The illegal votes will merely run up the score in the national election total votes for the Democrats, which is irrelevant.
As you know, we do not elect our president by popular vote but by an electoral college system, whereby each state casts the same number of electoral votes as they have members of Congress. The magic number of electoral votes is 270.That’s the magic number you should be watching for as you surmise the election results next Tuesday night.
As late as six decades ago in the 1960 Presidential Election between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John Kennedy there were 40 states in play that were not predetermined by party preference. People voted for the person and not the party. Therefore, Nixon and Kennedy had to campaign in all 40 states and their appearance and campaigning made a difference. That is why John Kennedy selected his enemy Lyndon Johnson to be his vice-presidential running mate in order to carry the State of Texas.
Today, the election is exactly diametrically the opposite as 1960. In next Tuesday’s Presidential Electoral College Election, there are only seven states in play that really matter. The hay is in the barn in 43 states. The country is divided along party lines like never before in history. That’s why the polling reveals a 48/48 split and has since the move by the Democrats to swap Joe Biden for Kamala Harris. If Mickey Mouse were the Republican nominee, he would carry Alabama and Kansas. By the same token if Donald Duck were the Democratic nominee, he would carry California and New York.
Again, as you are watching Tuesday night, ignore the national horse race numbers. A Democrat will get the most votes because there are more voters in California and New York than there are in Alabama and Kansas. As soon as the polls close the news channels will color 43 states either red or blue, because the exit polls will tell them what everyone knows and that is that these states are in the bank or as we would say in red states, “the hay is in the barn.” Most of the country, geographically, including most of the less populous states, will be covered in red. The blue will stick out on the left coast of California, Washington and Oregon. One blue state in the middle of the country, Illinois, and the other end of the country New York and New Jersey.
The battle for the White House will be waged in the seven pivotal, swing battleground states where the partisan divide is especially divided. Those states, which will decide the election, are Georgia and North Carolina in the South, Arizona and Nevada in the West, and the three rust belt midwestern states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The Democrats were going to lose with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket. Younger Democratic voters were not going to vote for a decrepit senile old white man. They were not going to vote for Trump either and would have just stayed home.
However, the orchestrated maneuver to replace Biden with Kamala Harris was a brilliant ploy. She, being a liberal Democrat of mixed origin and of color, has brought the younger Democratic base Black voter into the fold and they will turn out to vote for Kamala Harris. That is what has made this a 48/48 percent horse race, which leaves the 4% undecided vote in these seven states – the golden circle of voters. Although Kamala Harris brings home the young, Black Democratic voter, polling shows that this golden circle of undecided voters made up of white, middleclass suburban women, may not be solidly in her corner. These women – probably in Michigan and Wisconsin – will more than likely decide who is the 47th President. However, turnout is the ultimate key to this race and in any close election.
Is the Trump older, conservative Republican base more enthused and motivated, or does the liberal Democratic base get their voters to the polls for Harris?
We will see next week.
October 23, 2024 - Contest for New Second Congressional District is the Race to Watch
We are down to the final days of our 2024 Presidential Year. We go to the polls Tuesday, November 5, to elect the next President of the United States.
We have no good statewide races in Alabama this year. All our important state offices are up for election in 2026. However, thanks to the federal courts, we have one doozy of a congressional race in the newly drawn Second Congressional District. It is not only the most interesting, important, entertaining contest in Alabama, it is one of the premier, pivotalcongressional races in the nation. It may well decide which party has the majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The federal courts designed this district to elect a Democrat to Congress from the Heart of Dixie. They blatantly overruled the Alabama Legislature’s constitutional power to draw congressional lines for the state. The federal court hung their hat on the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The new seat is comprised of all of Montgomery County, as well as most of the more rural counties surrounding Montgomery including Macon, Lowndes, Bullock, Pike, Butler, Crenshaw, Barbour, and Russell. It continues through the Black Belt counties like an arrow towards Mobile and gathers most of the Black voters in Mobile. The district goes from the Georgia line to the Mississippi line. The lion’s share of the votes are in Montgomery and Mobile.
Although this gerrymandered district was created by the federal courts to implement a new Democratic Black district, as soon as the new lines were drawn, Republicans said, “not so fast” and, “over our dead bodies.” “You ain’t taking it without a fight.” As the beginning of the race began, there were 11 Democrats running in the Democratic Primary and nine Republicans seeking the GOP nomination. When the dust settled after the April primaries, two surprising candidates emerged from the 20 aspirants.
The two stellar horses that emerged are thoroughbreds. The Republicans nominated Caroleene Dobson, and the Democrat’s stallion is Shomari Figures. Voters may have subconsciously chosen two young combatants. Youth is an omnipotent advantage in Washington. Dobson and Figures are both in their 30’s and could build generational power under the seniority driven power structure in D.C. They are both sterling candidates who are genuinely representative, philosophically, of their respective party. Figures is a real liberal Democrat and Dobson is a real conservative Republican.
Shomari Figures has a Democratic pedigree a mile long. He grew up in Mobile as the son of two legendary state senators. His late father, Michael Figures, served 18 years as a leader in the Alabama Senate. His mother, Vivian Figures, followedMichael, Shomari’s father, in the same Senate seat when he died early. She has become an icon in Mobile and the state senate in her nearly three decades in the upper chamber.
The Figures name has been at the forefront of Mobile politics for over four decades and it paid off in the Primary. Shomari received an amazing 92% of the vote in Mobile County. He also carried Montgomery County. It also did not hurt that he was able to outspend all 10 of his opponents combined with the bulk of his money coming from crypto currency groups. Figures has a law degree and has spent his entire career in Washington working for the Obama and Biden Administrations.
Caroleene Dobson is a sensational, sterling, young Republican candidate. She is a homegrown Monroe County girl. Her ancestral home is in the heart of the new district, perfectly nestled between the two metro voting centers of Mobile and Montgomery. She received 88% of the vote in Monroe County.She outdistanced the other major GOP contender, former State Senator Dick Brewbaker, in the Republican Primary by an amazing 59% to 41% to capture the Republican nomination.
Caroleene is a 37-year-old lawyer, mother, and wife. She is poised and exudes class and integrity. Her family has deep roots in the cattle industry in the state. She has been helped immensely by ALFA. She has worked hard and left no leaf unturned.
Regardless, the Republicans and Caroleene will need some help to secure this seat. A low voter turnout among Democratic voters may be the key to victory. This race is the ultimate purple, swing, congressional race in the south, and one of the most important races in the country. It could go either way.
See you next week.
October 16, 2024 - 1948 Was the Only Year Political Party Leadership Mattered in Alabama
All politics is now nationally partisan driven in most of the country and definitely in Alabama. Alabama is a one-party state when it comes to national and state general elections. For about 80 years, we were a one-party Democratic state. For the past 60 years we have become a one-party Republican state in presidential elections.
Republican candidates are always going to win state offices in Alabama and the Republican nominee is always going to carry Alabama. It is because of the philosophy of the two parties regarding national affairs. All politics are national.
George Wallace used to run around the country running for president when he was Governor of Alabama. On his Don Quixote quests as an Independent, he would often say there is not a dime’s worth of difference in the Democratic and Republican parties. Even in his demagoguing rhetoric, he couldnot say that with a straight face today. The Republican Party is very conservative. The Democratic Party is very liberal, and most Alabamians are very conservative. It is that simple.
Some naïve political writers want to place blame or give credit for election results on the backs of the Alabama Democratic Party leadership or the Alabama Republican Party leadership. The Alabama political parties have about as much relevance or influence on the results of the elections as an elephant or a donkey does. They have no power or influence on elections. Their only substantive purpose is to set the qualifying dates and rules. It is irrelevant who the Chairman of the Democratic Party or Republican Party is in Alabama, and it has always been that way. To criticize the party leadership in Alabama is like criticizing the PTO. They are doing a thankless, irrelevant, powerless job, and for someone to think they have relevance in a political campaign is revealing a naivete in the understanding of Alabama politics.
There has been one presidential contest in Alabama history where party leadership made a difference. The year was 1948. Race was the issue. Alabama and the South had voted straight Democratic for President for 80 years. However, the Democratic nominee for President, Harry Truman, had come out strongly for a pro Civil Rights platform. The solid South was about to become unhinged.
Mississippi and South Carolina were floating the idea of taking the South into a party called the Dixiecrats. Even though most white Democrats in Alabama were for segregation, they were not enamored with the idea of bolting the Party. There were two distinct groups in the state politically in 1948. There was a strong progressive contingency that was emboldened by and loyal to the national Democratic Party of Jefferson, Jackson and Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was revered in Alabama. All our congressional delegation were FDR New Deal Democrats.
However, the Democratic Party machinery was controlled by the conservative Black Belters who were allied with what would become the Dixiecrats. The Alabama Democratic chairman was the racist Gessner McCorvey. McCorvey enacted a policy that no Democratic elector or delegate from Alabama could support a candidate pledged to Civil Rights. It was enforced by a signed pledge. Alabamians selected a mixed bag of delegates to the Democratic Convention, who were elected because of popularity or name identification. So, when the national Democratic convention nominated Truman and adopted the civil rights plank in the platform, about half of the Alabama delegates followed McCorvey and walked out of the Convention, and the other half, who were progressives, stayed.
The racist group of McCorvey joined with the other Southern states and founded the Dixiecrat Party. They met in Convention at the Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham and nominated Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Thurmond and the Dixiecrats would carry the five Deep South Southern states.
McCorvey and his racist Dixiecrats cleverly stole the rooster symbol of the state Democratic Party. In 1948, the candidates’name was not on the ballot. One could only vote for the Party. Your choice was to either vote for the Republican Party or for the Democratic Party. Alabamians had been pulling the rooster for the Democratic Party all their lives. Whoever they voted for, Truman or Thurmond, will never be known. The state Democratic Party, controlled by McCorvey’s Dixiecrats, had basically hijacked the Party label. I suspect that more than a few Alabamians helped by the New Deal felt like they were voting for the national ticket and Truman. But the Alabama Democratic Party machine controlled by McCorvey voted in the election in Alabama’s Democratic Primary for Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond.
See you next week.
October 9, 2024 - The 1964 Goldwater Landslide
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1964 Goldwaterlandslide which was the tidal wave that swept the deep south into the Republican party.
Alabama and the South had voted solidly Democratic for President for over 80 years prior to 1964. Every constitutional officeholder in Alabama and every congressman and senator representing Alabama in Congress ran under the Democratic banner.
Lyndon Johnson was the Democratic nominee for president. Johnson carried 44 states and won the presidency by a landslide. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona carried only his home state and the five deep south states, including Alabama. Goldwater carried Alabama overwhelmingly, thus the label given to the Republican victory in the south was ironically the Goldwater Landslide.
The so called “Solid South” had been Democratic more out of tradition and protocol than philosophy. Both national parties took the south for granted in national elections. The Democrats ignored us because we were in the barn and the Republicans ignored us for the same reason.
The 1964 election was the turning point when the deep south states voted for Barry Goldwater. The south has never looked back. It was the race issue that won them over. Goldwater and the Republican party captured the race issue.
George Wallace had ridden the race issue into the Governor’s office in 1962. Early in 1964 Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson passed sweeping civil rights legislation, which white southerners detested. Johnson had used every ounce of muscle he could muster and brutally ran over the filibustering block of powerful southern senators, a group he was a leading member of less than three years earlier. The only non-southern senator to oppose civil rights legislation was Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. When the Republican party met at the old Cow Palace in San Francisco, they nominated Goldwater as their 1964 presidential candidate. Goldwater’s southern landslide was monumental. Alabama had been totally Democratic from president to coroner for more than eight decades. There was no Republican party to speak of. There was no Republican Primary. Republicans chose their token candidates in backroom conventions.
A good many old timers in Alabama had called their children and family around them on their deathbed and admonished their descendants, “Don’t ever sell the family farm and don’t evervote for a damn Republican.” However, Goldwater and the Republicans had become identified with segregation, and the white southern voter fled the Democratic Party enmasse. As the Fall elections of 1964 approached, the talk in the old country stores around Alabama was that a good many good ole boys were going to vote straight Republican even if their daddies did turn over in their graves. There were a good many papas turning over in graves on that day.
Alabamians not only voted for Barry Goldwater but also pulled the straight Republican lever out of anger toward Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights agenda.
Alabama’s eight-member congressional delegation with more than 100 years of seniority was wiped out by straight ticket Republican voting. If either of our two venerable senators, Lister Hill or John Sparkman, had been on the ballot that day they would have also been thrashed. Hill had barely escaped a defeat in 1962 and would not run again in 1968.
Johnson annihilated Goldwater nationwide in 1964, butGoldwater gave the tough corrupt, amoral Texan a good old fashioned country whipping in the South. Johnson had bulldozed the Civil Rights Bill through the Senate over the southern senate cardinals. The leader of the southern block was the great Richard Russell of Georgia who had been Johnson’s mentor. Johnson worshiped Russell. All of Johnson’s former colleagues in the southern senate block knew that Johnson did not give a hoot about Negroes’ Civil Rights. They knew he passed the civil rights bill to enhance his race for president. Johnson, being a southerner, understood southern politics. Senator Russell stared coldly at Johnson when he signed the Civil Rights Bill. Johnson looked back at Russell after he signed the Bill and with tears in his eyes, he prophetically said I have just signed the South over to the Republican Party for at least the next 60 years.
Johnson’s prophecy has proven true. There have been 15 presidential elections since that day in 1964 and Alabama has voted for the Republican nominee in 14 of the 15 elections.Trump will also carry Alabama this year, which will make it 15 out of 16.
It all began with the Goldwater Landslide of 1964.
See you next week.
October 2, 2024 - The Association of County Commissions Has Been Power in Alabama Politics for Close to a Century
The Alabama Association of County Commissions has been a powerful organization in Alabama politics for almost a century. County Commissioners are an integral part of governing in our state. Over the years they have been thought of as simply road commissioners. They are that, they do oversee all of the county/rural roads in the state. You might say they are where the rubber meets the road. However, they are much more than that.
County governments are big business. In many of our 67 counties the county government operation is one of the largest employers in the county. Therefore, the chairman and other county commissioners have to be good business managers and stewards of very large county budgets. In the past three or four decades, Alabama has been transcending from a rural to a more urban state. Our larger counties, especially the big three of Jefferson, Madison and Mobile are really big businesses.
Randall Dueitt is doing a good job as Chairman of the Mobile County government. The Chairman of the Madison County government, Mac McCutcheon is working closely with Huntsville Mayor, Tommy Battle, to oversee the amazing growth of the Madison/Limestone/Morgan area of our state. The Jefferson County government led by Joe Knight and Jimmie Stephens is a tremendous and integral ingredient of the state’s largest county. Jefferson County government is one of the largest employers in Birmingham.
The aforementioned Joe Knight has served as President of the Alabama Association of County Commissions (ACCA) for the past year. The Association held their annual meeting in late August. Commissioner Knight handed over the gavel to Calhoun County Commissioner Lee Patterson. He plans to focus on rural health care. Lee hails from the Jacksonville/Piedmont area of Calhoun County. Patterson is smart, personable, and politically savvy. He will have a good year as President of ACCA. He has a bright future in Alabama Politics.
Other rising stars in the ACCA are Houston County Commission Chairman Brandon Shouppe, Baldwin County Commission Chairman Billie Jo Underwood, Justin Sawyer a Monroe County Commissioner, and Fayette County Probate Judge Mike Freeman, who is the former owner of an automobile dealership. He has quickly turned around Fayette County financial condition and is now actively involved in economic development in the area.
Colin Daley is doing an excellent job as chairman of the fast-growing Limestone County. His father served as chairman. Colin, now in his second term, is becoming a major leader in economic development in that area.
Desirae Lewis Jackson from Elmore County is a star on the rise in the Association. She is a young Republican lawyer to keep your eye on.
A superstar is set to arise on the scene of the ACCA in January from Lee County. Jere Colley, Jr. will become Probate Judge of Lee County, who will also serve as Chairman of the County Commission. He will do a great job of leading this important and booming county.
Sonny Brasfield is the Executive Director of the ACCA. He is a mainstay of the organization. Sonny is a Tuscaloosa native and graduate of the University of Alabama. He has been with the Association since 1988 (36 years) and Executive Director since the retirement of Buddy Sharpless in 2009 (15 years). His long tenure reflects his dedication and significant contributions to county governance in Alabama.
The Association of County Commissioners has long been a power on Goat Hill. Sonny Brasfield has sustained and advanced that power immensely. Governor Ivey’s 2019 Rebuild Alabama Road Program was fostered by Brasfield and the ACCA. The Act allotted almost 25% of the proceeds of the 10-cent increase in gas tax going to counties for road and bridge improvements.
Brasfield and the ACCA played a significant role in the development of Alabama’s internet sales tax (SSUT), that produces almost a billion dollars a year.
When the ACCA talks, legislators listen. The ACCA, established in 1929, concluded their 96th annual convention on August 22. It was a success with Senator Tommy Tuberville giving the keynote address.
An interesting note, Mac McCutcheon, the current Chairman of Madison County Commission, is a former Speaker of the Alabama House. His predecessor, Dale Strong, was elected to the Tennessee Valley Congressional District, and current Jefferson County Commissioner Mike Bolin is a former Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
See you next week.