October 21, 2020 - Election less than two weeks away
Our 2020 presidential election is less than two weeks away. We Americans will either elect Republican Donald Trump for another four-year term or Democrat Joe Biden.
In Alabama, we will either elect Republican Tommy Tuberville or Democrat Doug Jones for six-years to serve with our iconic Senior Senator Richard Shelby. The winner will be elected to a six-year term in this august body.
Several of you took issue with my statement last week that a vote for the liberal Democrat Doug Jones is a vote against Richard Shelby and the State of Alabama. Allow me to clarify and explain to you as simply as I can why that is true and why I reiterate that declaration.
The United States Senate is steeped in and governed by time honored rules and traditions. The most revered and sacred shrine is the vestige of seniority. The rule of seniority is paramount. The longer you serve in the Senate the more powerful you become. Some become more powerful than others. Richard Shelby has become the most powerful and consequential U.S. Senator to have represented our state in Alabama history.
In my 2015 book, Of Goats and Governors: Six Decades of Colorful Alabama Political Stories, I have a chapter titled, “Alabama’s Three Greatest Senators.” They are Lister Hill, John Sparkman and Richard Shelby.
Senator Lister Hill was an austere, aristocratic gentleman who was renowned for health care. He was the author of the famous Hill-Burton Act and the father of the renowned UAB Medical Center. He served 30-years in the U.S. Senate.
Senator John Sparkman served in the U.S. Senate for 32-years. He was from Huntsville and is credited with being the father of Redstone Arsenal.
If I were writing that chapter today, Senator Richard Shelby would be alone as Alabama’s most consequential, powerful senator in our state’s history. He is in a league of his own. During his 34-year career in the Senate, Shelby has become renowned as the bearer of good tidings and federal dollars to the Heart of Dixie. If Lister Hill was the father of UAB and John Sparkman the father of Redstone Arsenal, then Richard Shelby can very aptly be referred to as the grandfather as well as great uncle to these two premier Alabama institutions. Richard Shelby is the reason UAB and Huntsville’s Space and Rocket Center are Alabama’s most prestigious as well as Alabama’s two largest employers.
Huntsville has become Alabama’s fastest growing and most prosperous city and one of America’s brightest high-tech destination locations. The City of Huntsville is soon to become the second home of the FBI. The state-of-the-art Huntsville FBI cybersecurity headquarters will employ over 2,000 very highly paid individuals. This coup for Alabama is due to one person – our senior Senator Richard Shelby.
It is not just Huntsville and Birmingham that have benefitted from Shelby’s prowess and power, it is the entire state. Every corner of the state can point to a Shelby generated road, building, industry, or military installation.
You might be asking, how has Shelby accomplished so much for our state? It is simple. It is federal dollars. Then you might ask, how does Shelby bring so many federal dollars to Alabama? It is simple. He is Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. He appropriates the United States budget, or in other words, he controls the federal checkbook.
In addition to being Chairman of Appropriations, Senator Shelby is Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. If you do not think that is invaluable to Alabama, you best think again. There is no state in the nation that benefits more through defense preparedness and dollars in the United States than the good ole Heart of Dixie.
Under the Rules of the Senate, the political party that has the majority of members presides and makes the rules. More importantly, for Alabama, the majority party gets all the committee chairmanships. Our Senior Senator Richard Shelby is a Republican. Currently, Republicans have a slim 53-to-47 majority in the Senate. There are three Republican incumbent senators in Arizona, Colorado, and Maine, who are in serious jeopardy of losing. If the Republicans lose these three and one more, then Senator Shelby loses the chairmanship of appropriations and Alabama loses all of its power in Washington. Suppose your vote for Doug Jones, a liberal, national, California Democrat, is the deciding vote that puts the Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate and puts Richard Shelby and Alabama out to pasture.
See you next week.
October 14, 2020 - GOP Control of U.S. Senate Critical for Alabama
The 2020 race for the White House will culminate in less than three weeks on November 3rd. However, some experts are predicting the outcome will not be determined that night and there will be a protracted result due to the massive number of mail-in votes.
In fact, state officials in Pennsylvania are expecting controversy. The Keystone state is looking like ground zero for the presidential contest. It is one of the largest key battleground states, and it has obviously been the focus of the Biden Democratic presidential campaign.
Under the Electoral College System, there are six pivotal battleground states to watch on election night. The election will be decided in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and to a lesser degree in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
The proverbial October surprise in the presidential race occurred in late September. The passing of legendary liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed the entire dynamics of the 2020 Election. The opportunity for President Trump to appoint an outstanding accomplished, conservative, federal jurist to the high tribunal is significant to say the least.
Trump’s appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett is truly historical. If Barrett is confirmed this will change the entire ideology of the Court to a solid six-to-three conservative majority. Trump’s appointment of Barrett is even more pivotal than his previous Gorsuch and Kavanaugh appointments. In these two cases you replaced conservatives with conservatives. With Barrett, you are replacing a woman with a woman but more importantly you are replacing one of the most liberal judges in history with potentially one of the most conservative. From a political standpoint, this Supreme Court surprise is like manna from Heaven for Trump and the Republicans.
The pandemic was the issue prior to the Ginsburg/Barrett surprise. Trump was not going to win on that issue as the person in the White House. While he may not have caused the problem, voters must blame someone. The campaign focus briefly changed from COVID to the Supreme Court battle. However, Trump’s contraction of COVID redirected the campaign focus back to the pandemic. Things are changing so rapidly the Supreme Court hearings and ultimate vote for confirmation scheduled for the last week of October may refocus the campaign theme back to a partisan divide between the socially liberal Democrats and the conservative Republicans. It will illuminate the differences in the two parties. The philosophical chasm is deep and wide.
Which brings me to this point – the battle over control of the U.S. Senate is just as important as the presidential contest in this year’s election. President Trump could not have garnered three Supreme Court appointees without the confirmation by the majority Republican Senate. Currently, Republicans have a slim 53 to 47 majority in the U.S. Senate. There are three
Republican incumbent senators behind in polling and fundraising. The GOP is in serious jeopardy of losing seats in Colorado, Arizona, and Maine, in addition Iowa and North Carolina are toss ups.
Your vote may not count for much in the presidential race. Trump wins in Alabama probably by a 60/40 margin. However, folks, I am here to tell you that your vote in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race is paramount for the State of Alabama. If the U.S. Senate flips from Republican to Democratic our iconic senior Senator Richard Shelby loses the Chairmanship of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and Alabama loses our power in Washington. Therefore, a vote for liberal Democrat Doug Jones is a vote against Richard Shelby and the State of Alabama.
The amount of federal money Richard Shelby brings home to Alabama as Chairman of Appropriations is unimageable. He is Alabama’s number one economic engine. Our seven Congressmen combined do not have 10% of the influence as Senator Shelby.
Whereas Doug Jones is totally irrelevant when it comes to Alabama. His only relevance in the Senate is to be a pawn for the New York and California liberal Democrats. He has voted reliably with Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and along with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. Indeed, Jones has voted so much like a Californian, most of his campaign money has come from the California Democrats. Actually, Jones is referred to in Washington as California’s third U.S. Senator.
Regardless of the fact philosophically Jones is the most liberal senator to sit in an Alabama senate seat in recent times, economically a vote for a Democrat could cost Alabama millions of federal dollars. Therefore, not only is a vote for Doug Jones a vote against Richard Shelby and the State of Alabama, if you work or benefit from UAB or Redstone Arsenal or any military facility in our state, you may be voting to cut your own throat.
See you next week.
October 7, 2020 - The Story of the Dixiecrats and 1948 Truman Election as President
The year 1948 was an interesting and momentous year in southern politics. World War II had just ended. The King of American politics, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had passed away in Warm Springs, Georgia.
FDR had reigned omnipotently as President from 1932-1945. His Vice President was an obscure, peculiar looking, Missourian named Harry Truman. Truman had been a haberdasher in Independence, Missouri who had gone broke selling men’s clothing. The legendary St. Louis Pendergrass political machine took Harry in and made him a U.S. Senator.
Harry was a backbencher in the senate, to say the least. FDR plucked him out of the Senate and made him his running mate. FDR won the 1944 election overwhelmingly. Americans never un-elect presidents in the midst of a war. Thus the saying, “You never change horses in the middle of the stream.” Truman settled into his obscurity as Vice President. He would often quote another Vice President, John Nance Garner, a tough talking Texan who would say the office of Vice President is about as useless as a warm bucket of spit.
FDR did not even tell Truman about our scientists working on a project to create the nuclear bomb. However, it fell to Harry to drop those bombs on Japan, which ended World War II.
Another famous Texas politician, Sam Rayburn, was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Sam ruled the House with an iron hand, craftily shepherding FDR’s New Deal legislation through Congress. Mr. Sam had a private office tucked away in the basement of the Capitol. It was right under the House Chamber.
Mr. Sam Rayburn, the Speaker, would also refer to himself as the Chairman of the Board of Education. He would invite aspiring congressmen to join him every afternoon at 3:00 p.m. for a Board of Education meeting. His cubbyhole Board of Education would only hold about 12-18 members. Therefore, you knew you had arrived when you received one of Mr. Sam’s invitations to his 3:00 board meeting. Mr. Sam would promptly look at his watch at 3:00, adjourn Congress, and stroll downstairs to his Board of Education meeting where they would enjoy Bourbon and branchwater.
Since Harry really had nothing much to do as Vice President, Mr. Sam extended him a standing invitation to his board meeting. Harry was a regular as they enjoyed their good Kentucky Bourbon and Texas branchwater.
One April afternoon in 1945, Mr. Sam, Harry and a dozen Congressmen had about three or four libations under their belts and the Secret Service came in and whisked Harry away to the White House. FDR had died in Georgia and Harry was sworn in as President. I am not saying Harry was inebriated. However, he was probably a little dizzy, as he unexpectedly became President of the United States.
Harry Truman was elected in an upset as President in 1948. He won despite the departure of the Deep South, which had been loyally Democratic. The South split off from the Democratic Party and voted for the Dixiecrat ticket led by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond.
This split in the Southern Democratic ranks was due to the race issue. Truman had espoused and promoted a Civil Rights Bill. The South revolted. Thus, 1948 was a pivotal year in Alabama and Southern politics. The previous decades had seen the South and Southern congressmen ardently support the Democratic ticket and agenda. They were New Deal Democrats. Economic issues drove the engine. That all changed in 1948 when race trumped economics.
That same year, Dr. V. O. Key wrote a book entitled “Southern Politics in the State and Nation.” Dr. Key’s book became the premier textbook for students of southern politics. It is so renowned and enduring that it is the bible of southern political theory. I use the textbook when I teach Southern Politics now. It is used at Vanderbilt, Emory, Tennessee, Georgia, and the University of Alabama to name a few. Dr. Key first wrote his textbook in 1948. It was updated and revised in 1984.
In Dr. Key’s epistle, he outlines a profound theory called “Friends and Neighbors” politics, which has a profound and prevalent presence in southern politics. It is very pronounced in Alabama politics. As is the theory that more people will vote against someone than for someone. This rule will play out in the presidential contest in three weeks.
See you next week.
September 30, 2020 - Alabama’s Budget Year begins this Week. COVID-19 has played Havoc.
The new fiscal year begins this week for Alabama government. We have two budgets, a General Fund and an Education Budget. Both budgets have seen devastating havoc to their revenues due to the coronavirus. The Education Budget was drastically destroyed from what was originally expected at the beginning of the calendar year in January.
The Education Budget receives the revenues generated from our sales and income taxes in the state. Therefore, the downturn in the economy is especially heartbreaking for educators, teachers, schools, and universities.
The Education Budget was poised in January to be by far the largest and robust in state history. There was money for a 6% increase over the $7.1 billion 2020 Education Budget. However, that was eliminated and the budget is level funded.
Altogether, the coronavirus pandemic has left a half billion dollar cut to Alabama’s state budgets for the upcoming year.
The pandemic debacle has decimated other states much more than Alabama. Indeed, our legislative budget committees have done such a good job as stewards of our tax spending and of budgeting that, unlike other states that are deficit spending and headed towards bankruptcy, there is a slight increase in our two budgets.
In fact, all surveys nationally rank Alabama in the top five of the 50 states when it comes to how well states are handling and are able to absorb the staggering blow to state’s budgets.
Our state budget chairmen, Representatives Bill Poole of Tuscaloosa and Steve Clouse of Ozark and Senators Arthur Orr of Decatur and Greg Albritton of Escambia, have done a yeoman’s job of keeping Alabama afloat by passing conservative budgets and implementing rainy day funds.
The Education Budget will be about $7.2 billion. The General Fund will be about $2.2 billion. The difference in what was expected in January is about $500 million.
However, Alabama’s share of the Federal Stimulus money is said to be $1.8 Billion. This is like manna from Heaven.
The General Fund budget still includes increases for the Alabama Medicaid Agency. The Department of Public Health also got an increase to cover a larger share of the costs for The Children’s Health Insurance program. The Department of Mental Health got an increase to setup three regional crisis centers for folks with mental illness caused by the epidemic.
The Department of Corrections will get about a $20 million increase, but it may not be enough to satisfy the feds. Within the Education Budget, the Legislature was able to fund a bond issue for school and capital projects. All-in-all, it could be a lot worse. Again, Alabama is in better shape than other states.
One of the best things the crafters of our 1901 Constitution did was to make it unconstitutional to have a deficit budget. We have a constitutional mandate that we cannot spend more than we take in. We cannot print money in Alabama like the Federal Government does. The amount of red ink that the federal government is stacking up is staggering.
The federal government with the printing of new money sent over $1.8 billion to the state in the 2020 Cares Act bailout. This money was sent to the states to pay for expenses incurred from the coronavirus epidemic.
That is a lot of money and it did not take lawmakers and the governor’s office long to start salivating and feuding over the use of the pandemic relief manna from Heaven from the good old debtor Uncle Sam.
Indeed, the fight over the windfall money caused quite a brouhaha between Governor Kay Ivey and the Legislature. It is a natural spat because it is a gray constitutional interpretation of power between the Legislative Branch, which is given the power to appropriate money, and the Executive Branch which administers state government.
The Cares Act of 2020 passed by Congress, which appropriated a total of $105 billion of which Alabama received $1.8 billion, is different than the federal bailout funds during the Great Recession. This relief money for this year cannot be used to aid in current or long-term expenses. It can only be used for expenses directly related to or incurred for expenses directly caused by the coronavirus.
We are in the waning days of the census count. If you have not been counted, be sure you are.
See you next week.
September 23, 2020 - All Politics is Local. Most of Alabama’s Mayors Races this Year.
With it being a presidential election year and an election for one of our United States Senate Seats and all of the interest that goes along with those high-profile contests, it has gone under the radar that most of our cities in the state had elections for mayor and city council last month. Mayors serve four-year terms and to most Alabamians they are the most important vote they will cast this year.
The job of mayor of a city is a difficult and intricate fulltime, 24 hours a day dedication to public service. They make more decisions that affect the lives of their friends and neighbors than anyone else. The old maxim, “All politics is local,” is epitomized in the role of mayor. Folks, being mayor of a city is where the rubber meets the road.
In looking all over the state, it appears that most Alabamians are content with the jobs their mayor is doing. In almost every contest around the state, the incumbent mayor turned away the challenger usually by a wide margin. Indeed, a good many of the incumbent mayors in the Heart of Dixie had no opposition.
Many of these incumbent mayors were reelected without opposition. Gordon Stone, the mayor of Alabama’s fastest growing community, Pike Road, will be entering his fifth term as mayor. Pretty soon Pike Road will have to start calling themselves a city.
Vestavia’s Mayor, Ashley Curry, won a second term without opposition. This former retired FBI agent has done a yeoman’s job managing this upscale, Jefferson County suburb.
Jasper Mayor, David O’Mary, who escaped opposition, will begin a second term. He has run Jasper like a well-tuned engine. Albertville mayor, Tracy Honea, garnered a third term without opposition. Luverne Mayor Ed Beasley was also unopposed.
In the contested races, most of the matchups were no contest. Two of Alabama’s largest and most prosperous cities, Huntsville and Hoover, had mayoral races. Tommy Battle coasted to an easy 78 to 22 reelection victory in Huntsville. If Kay Ivey opts to not run for reelection in 2022, Battle will be favored to win the governor’s race. However, being Governor of Alabama would be a demotion to being Mayor of Huntsville.
Hoover citizens must approve of Mayor Frank Brocato’s job performance. Brocato trounced Hoover City Council President Gene Smith by a 76 to 24 margin.
Opelika’s popular and effective, longtime mayor, Gary Fuller, turned back his challenger 66 to 34 to win a fifth term.
In Cullman incumbent mayor, Woody Jacobs, won a second term overwhelmingly. Hamilton Mayor Bob Page won a second term. Troy’s 48-year-old mayor, Jason Reeves, won reelection to a third four-year term with 74% of the vote. Incumbent Eufaula Mayor Jack Tibbs won an impressive 68% victory for reelection over two opponents.
Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie may have turned in the most impressive showing. He shellacked former City Councilman Dean Argo 70 to 30. His fellow citizens must approve of frugality with their city finances. Wetumpka’s popular and hardworking, longtime mayor, Jerry Willis, turned back his challenger by a 69 to 31 margin. In neighboring Millbrook incumbent mayor, Al Kelley, won reelection 67 to 33. Mayor Kelley has overseen the growth of his city from 6,000 in population to over 20,000. Tallassee reelected Mayor John Hammock to a second term.
Clanton lost their mayor of three decades, Billy Joe Driver, to COVID this year. His successor will be Jeff Mims, who won the election in the Peach City. Mike Oakley won the mayor’s race in Centreville with a 60% margin. It is proper and fitting that an Oakley will be Mayor of Centreville.
Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley won a landslide reelection garnering 68% of the vote. Incumbent Pell City Mayor Bill Pruitt won reelection by an impressive 73 to 27 margin. Longtime Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon won reelection in the Camellia City. Opp’s first female mayor, Becky Bracke, won a second term with 60% of the vote.
There were two mayoral upsets on August 25. Scottsboro’s incumbent mayor was defeated by challenger Jimmy McCamy. In the thriving, growing city of Fairhope challenger Sherry Sullivan trounced incumbent mayor Karin Wilson.
There are runoffs for mayor in several major cities, including Enterprise, Ozark, Selma, Tuskegee, Alexander City and Northport. These cities will elect their mayors on October 6 in runoff elections.
Some of you may be wondering about two of the most populous cities. Tuscaloosa and Dothan have their mayoral races next year in August of 2021. Tuscaloosa’s Walt Maddox and Dothan’s Mark Saliba will be tough to beat. All politics is local.
If you have not been counted in the census, you have not got many more shopping days to Christmas.
September 16, 2020 - The Presidential Race is Underway
Now that the national political party conventions are over and the nominees have been coronated, the battle royale for the White House is in full throttle. The nominees, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, will shatter the age barrier. Whoever is elected will be the oldest person ever elected President. If Donald Trump is reelected, he will be 75 when sworn in. If Joe Biden wins, he will be close to 79. When I was a young man, folks at that age were in the nursing home if they were alive. By comparison, 60 years ago when John Kennedy was elected, he was 42.
If by chance, you are worried about their traversing all over the 50 states and keeling over in the process, calm your fears. Trump will campaign in only about 10-12 states, and Biden will campaign in probably only two. Why, you might ask? There are only 10-12 states that matter in a presidential contest.
Under our Electoral College system, the candidate that gets one more popular vote than the other gets all of that state’s electoral votes.
The country is divided like never before in our history. You either live in a red Republican state, like Alabama, or a blue Democratic state, like California. You might say the hay is in the barn in all but about 10 battleground swing states. There are 40 states that it really does not matter who the Republican nominee is, that party’s candidate is going to win that state and get all of that state’s electoral votes.
Our national politics has become so partisan and divided with such a vociferous divide that old Joe Biden will carry California by a 60-40 margin, and Donald Trump will carry Alabama by a 60-40 margin. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, Alabama only has 9 electoral votes whereas California has 55.
The election is won or lost in the swing states like Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is in these six states that all of the campaign money will be spent and where the two aged candidates might campaign. It will all boil down to certain zip codes in these six states. Current polling has Biden ahead of Trump in most of the battleground states.
President Donald Trump for the first three years of his presidency reigned over a tremendous economic boom. He had a fighting chance at reelection based on one factor: “it’s the economy, stupid.”
All that changed in March. The coronavirus pandemic hit our nation and devastated our national economy. All of the growth of three years has been devastated. During the same month of March, the aging Democrat, Joe Biden, captured the Democratic nomination from the Socialist, Bernie Sanders.
Under the Electoral College System, President Trump has to carry most of the key battleground states in order to win. Current polling has Biden ahead of Trump in most, if not all the pivotal swing states because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the economy was busting through the roof, Trump could claim credit for the thriving economy. Likewise, the economic recession caused by the coronavirus is not Trump’s fault. However, it happened under his watch. There is a tried and true political maxim, “If you claim credit for the rain, then you gonna get the blame for the drought.”
There is also a cardinal rule in politics. All politics is local. Folks, Joe Biden was born and raised in Pennsylvania in the blue-collar city of Scranton to be exact. Even if Trump were to miraculously carry all five of the large, pivotal states, he will have a hard time carrying Pennsylvania.
I know most of you reading this do not like to hear this dour outlook for Trump. However, there is hope. First of all, I am pretty good at predicting and analyzing Alabama political races; not so much when it comes to national politics. In fact, I am usually wrong.
Another golden, proven caveat in politics, they only count the votes of the people who show up to vote. Older voters tend to be Republican. and older voters are the ones that show up to vote.
We will see in six short weeks.
September 9, 2020 - 1960 Presidential Race Marked beginning of Television as Premier Political Medium
The 1960 Presidential Race between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy is considered by many political historians to be a landmark presidential contest. This race for the White House, exactly 60 years ago, marked a pivotal change in presidential election politics when the advent of television became the premier medium for political candidates.
John Kennedy was a 42-year-old, charismatic, democratic senator from Massachusetts. Richard Nixon was a veteran politico who was vice president under the popular war hero, President General Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower.
The presidential debate between Democrat Kennedy and Republican Nixon was to be televised nationwide. This was the first televised presidential debate. Television was a new phenomenon.
Kennedy understood the importance of the debate and the new medium of television. He took a full week off the campaign trail and went to the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port and studied and prepared and was rested and tanned.
Nixon, on the other hand, campaigned nonstop, 18 hours a day up until the telecast. He was tired looking and also suffering from painful phlebitis. When he arrived at the NBC studios for the debate, he bumped his bad leg on the car door, and it flared up the phlebitis. He was in severe pain when he took the stage. However, the worst thing he did was fail to shave and he refused makeup. He had a heavy five o’clock shadow. In fact, he had not shaved since five o’clock that morning. He appeared tired and haggard and unshaven. It made him look very sinister. He glared menacingly into the camera and at Kennedy. In short, he was awful.
Nixon was used to radio and, in fact, those that listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon won. However, those that watched on TV thought differently. Kennedy was tanned, relaxed, smiled and was handsome and charismatic. Kennedy won the election that night. The televised debate was the key. Therefore, 1960 marks the beginning of television being the way and means to victory in an election.
Folks, I am here to tell you it has not changed. Television is still the medium that drives the vote. It has been rumored and stated as fact that social media has taken over. But, it has not yet.
It is a known fact in politics that older people vote. That has not changed. It is folks my age, who are 60 and over, who vote and elect people. Young people under 40 simply do not vote. They really do not have time to vote in that stage of life. They are trying to raise a family, build a career and get children to soccer games or dance class after an eight-hour workday and then get dinner on the table.
There are very few 25-year old millennials who vote. They get their information off social media, but it does not translate into voting. Most of them are not even registered or know where they go to get registered or much less where their polling place is. We older people still watch TV and we vote.
As I peruse and study the campaign finance filings of the candidates running for office in Alabama this year, the fact is confirmed. Every major winning candidate for all the viable and primary races for U.S. Senate or Congress spent the bulk of their campaign money on television.
In looking back at the 1960 Presidential Race and comparing it to this year’s 2020 contest, reveals a stark transition in presidential politics. Under the Electoral College System, at that time there were 40 states in play and 10 states that were safe Republican or Democratic enclaves.
Today, it is just the opposite. There are 40 states that are predetermined to be safely solid either Red Republican states or Blue Democratic states. You might say the hay is in the barn in at least 40 of our United States. As I often say, if Mickey Mouse were the Republican nominee, he could carry Alabama; and if Donald Duck was the Democratic candidate, he would carry California.”
Our country is divided, politically, and divisively like never before in history along partisan lines. It is almost 50/50. Therefore, the key to victory is inspiring and firing up your base to vote.
If enthusiasm is any indication, then the needle is moving toward Donald Trump and the Republicans. Although the addition of Senator Kamala Harris to the Democratic ticket may enthuse African American female voters, who are the base of the Democratic Party.
See you next week.
September 2, 2020 - Labor Day
Labor Day is upcoming on Monday. In bygone days it was the benchmark day for campaign season to start. Historically, Labor Day barbeques were events where political campaigns had their roots. Camp stew and barbequed pork were devoured while folks listened to politicians promise how they were going to bring home the pork.
The most legendary political Labor Day Barbeques have been held in the Northwest corner of the state. There were two monumental, legendary, barbeque events in that neck of the woods that were a must go to event for aspiring and veteran politicians, both locally and statewide.
The Terry Family Reunion is in the Loosier Community of Lawrence County. This is where the large Terry family originated. Actually, a good many of the folks that attend have kinship or ties to the Terry family. Many of the folks in Lawrence County are kin to each other through the large Terry family.
Every serious candidate for governor or major statewide office made the Terry barbeque. It lasted all day. Some would arrive in helicopters, which garnered attention. Legendary icons like Big Jim Folsom, George Wallace, Bill Baxley, Albert Brewer and Howell Heflin attended every year.
Another Labor Day barbeque was held in that area, which was just as important if not quite as big and wide open as the Terry Event. The legendary L. O. Bishop of Colbert County was known for having a Labor Day barbeque bash. His event was big, but more selective. L.O. was and has been for 60 years a leader in the Alabama Farmers Federation. He would only invite the Alfa backed candidates. His barbeque is renowned as the best in the state.
Bishop and Howell Heflin were best friends. Heflin became the best friend the Alabama farmer had. Judge Heflin became Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He did a yeoman’s job for Alabama Agriculture.
Senator Heflin was from Colbert County. He was renowned for being a great lawyer, storyteller and judge. Being from Northwest Alabama, he made the event of his best friend L. O. Bishop and the Terry Family Reunion every year. He not only made the events, he stayed there all day, grazed and ate barbeque.
Judge loved to eat. He really loved barbeque. You could tell he liked to eat from his large rotund physique. He considered himself a connoisseur of barbeque. In fact, he toured the state every year and he would plan his schedule so that he could eat at his favorite barbeque places in every corner of the state. When he would get through eating a plate of pork or ribs, he would smack his lips, sigh, wipe his face with his handkerchief and say, “That’s some mighty fine barbeque, it’s almost as good as L.O.’s”
It may be hard for some of you to believe, but after World War II and throughout the 1960’s organized labor was king in Alabama, unlike today where most of our large industries are not unionized. During that 20-year period (1946-1966), Alabama was the most unionized state in the South by far. In fact, every major employer in the State of Alabama was a union shop.
Beginning in Northwest Alabama, the Reynolds Aluminum Plant in Sheffield and Florence was union. The Tennessee Valley workers throughout North Alabama were all union. The paper mill and Goodrich Tire Plant in Tuscaloosa were union.
The largest employer in Gadsden, the Goodyear Tire Factory, was union.
The Lee County Tire Manufacturing Plant was union. The military base employees at Ft. Rucker in the wiregrass were union.
The largest employer in Mobile was the state docks. Guess what, Folks? All those workers belong to the union.
The largest employer in Birmingham, as well as the largest employer in the State of Alabama, were the steel mills and U.S. Steel. You guessed it – the steel workers were all unionized. In fact, the Steel Workers Union in Birmingham was the largest in the nation.
The GOP ticket that appears on the ballot in 60 days will be a powerful triumvirate. It has gone under the radar since the presidential and senate races have taken center stage, but popular PSC President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh is up for reelection. Thus, the Republican ticket will feature and illustrious alliteration of Trump/Tuberville/Twinkle, which will be hard to beat in the Heart of Dixie.
Happy Labor Day!
August 26, 2020 - Legendary Liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black was from Alabama
The most enduring legacy a president will have is an appointment to the United States Supreme Court. A lifetime appointment to the high tribunal is the ultimate power. The nine Justices of the Supreme Court have omnipotent everlasting power over most major decisions affecting issues and public policy in our nation. President Trump has had two SCOTUS appointments and confirmations. This is monumental. These appointments may be his lasting legacy.
The only Alabamian to ever serve on the U.S. Supreme Court was Hugo Black. It may come as a surprise to you, since Alabama is today considered one of the most conservative places in America, but Hugo Black was arguably one of the most liberal Supreme Court justices in history. He was also one of the longest serving justices.
Black was the fifth longest serving Supreme Court Justice. He sat on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 until his death in 1971. Nearly 35 of his 85 years on earth were spent on the Supreme Court.
Hugo Black, like most folks of that era in Alabama history, was born on a farm. Black was from rural Clay County. He was the youngest child of a large family. He worked his way through the University of Alabama Law School under the tutelage of President George Denny. He shoveled coal to stoke the furnaces at the University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Black began practicing law in Birmingham at 22 years old. He became a Jefferson County Prosecutor and then World War I broke out. He served in the war and rose to the rank of Captain.
In 1926, at age 40, Black was elected to the U.S. Senate. Prior to that he had been a practicing Labor lawyer and won his seat with the help of organized Labor, especially in Birmingham. He arrived in the Senate at the beginning of the Great Depression. During his entire tenure in the Senate, America was in the throes of the Depression. Folks who endured this era were marked by it. It made all southern politicians progressives and new dealers.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to the White House in 1932. His New Deal was the most legendary political accomplishment in American history. Black became one of FDR’s staunchest allies. He voted for 24 out of 24 of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.
Alabama benefitted mightily from FDR’s New Deal, especially rural Alabama and the Tennessee Valley. Roosevelt rewarded Alabama’s junior senator with a coveted seat on the Supreme Court. He was one of nine justices appointed by President Roosevelt during his 13-year reign as president.
It is hard today to imagine that Alabama could produce such a liberal judge. However, during this era of American history, Alabama’s congressional delegation was one of the most liberal in the nation due to the fact that they totally embraced FDR and his New Deal.
Black was a liberal New Dealer in the Senate and liberals were pleased by the Justice from Alabama’s tenure over the next 35 years. Liberals regard Black as one of the most influential Supreme Court Justices of the 20th Century. He literally hung his hat on the 14th Amendment.
Black was a part of the court decision that declared school racial segregation illegal in the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision. He was the author of numerous opinions upholding Civil Rights. Black was known for his liberal policies and Civil liberties. It was interesting and probably unbelievable to most Americans that Alabama’s only contribution to the Supreme Court was one of the most liberal Justices.
In many ways, our current Democratic U.S. Senator, Doug Jones, is very similar to the late Justice Hugo Black. If truth were known, my guess is that one of Doug Jones’ idols is Hugo Black.
Jones is a Birmingham, pro-labor, civil rights, criminal defense lawyer with a background as a prosecutor. He was appointed a U.S. Attorney by a Democrat president. Doug Jones has, throughout his legal career been a national Democrat.
With Jones’s 2017 election to the U.S. Senate, he became and is still a darling superstar among the national Democratic elitists. He is the only Democratic Senator from the Deep South. The liberal Democrats in California and New York adore and admire him. Indeed, the vast majority of his campaign money derives from California and New York zip codes. His defeat of the ultra-conservative, anti-gay marriage judge, Roy Moore, has made him a national Democratic rock star.
It is very likely that Democrat Joe Biden could win the White House. If that occurs, look for Doug Jones as a potential cabinet member. Even though at age 64, Doug Jones is not the ideal choice for a Supreme Court appointment, it is not out of the realm of possibility.
See you next week.
August 19, 2020 - We Have Six Living Past Governors. How Are They Doing?
Some of you may wonder how many past governors we have in Alabama who are still living and how they are doing. We have six living past governors.
Governor John Patterson is our oldest living chief executive. Patterson is 99 years old and living on his ancestral family farm in rural Tallapoosa County in an obscure area named Goldville. Patterson is a legend in Alabama politics. He was Governor from 1958-1962 and was at the forefront of the beginning of the Civil Rights issue. He has the distinction of being the only person to beat George Wallace in a governor’s race in the Heart of Dixie. When he was elected in 1958, he was 37-years-old and was dubbed the “Boy Governor”. Patterson was Attorney General of Alabama for a term prior to being governor and served several decades on the Court of Criminal Appeals after his governorship.
He spends his time on his farm reading and tending to his animals. In fact, visitors to his home will find he has a pet goat named Rebecca. She sits and listens intently to your conversation and her head will move and look at those talking as though she is part of the conversation. Governor Patterson is totally on top of his game and has attended numerous weddings and funerals in the past year. He recognizes and converses with friends and relatives.
Forrest “Fob” James served two terms as governor, although not concurrently. He was first elected in 1978 as a Democrat, serving 1979-1982, and secondly in 1994 as a Republican serving from 1995-1998. He is the only person in state history to be elected governor as a Democrat and a Republican. Fob is 85 and doing well. He lives primarily in Miami, Florida and spends his days walking and caring for his wife, Bobbie.
Robert Bentley was one of the most successful and respected dermatologists in the state prior to entering politics. Bentley served two terms in the Alabama House prior to his being elected governor, twice. He was first elected governor in 2010 and reelected, overwhelmingly, in 2014. He served over six years as governor and did a good job. He is 77-years-old and in good health. He has resumed his medical/dermatology practice in Tuscaloosa.
Bob Riley served two successful terms as governor. He was elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006, therefore serving as governor eight full years. He is only 75-years-old. He was raised in Clay County, and now lives in Birmingham with his lovely wife, Patsy. He has several lucrative lobbying contracts.
If anyone was ever born to be governor, it was Don Siegelman. He was born and raised in Mobile. He went on to the University of Alabama where he was SGA President and then went on to graduate from Georgetown Law School. He served in Alabama politics for 26 years. He was elected Secretary of State, Attorney General of Alabama and Lt. Governor prior to his election as Governor in 1998. He served one term as governor. Siegelman is the last member of the Democratic party as well as the only Roman Catholic to serve as Governor of Alabama.
Don is doing well at 74. I enjoy visiting with him over lunch. He enjoys time with his wife, Lori, and his two grown children, Joseph and Dana and his dog Kona. He has a book out entitled, Stealing our Democracy, which is doing well in sales.
Speaking of being born to be governor, Jim Folsom, Jr. was literally born in the Governor’s Mansion in May 1949, while his daddy, James “Big Jim” Folsom was governor his first term, 1946-1950. Jim Folsom, Jr. had an illustrious career in Alabama politics. He was elected and served several times as a member of the Public Service Commission and three terms as Lt. Governor, prior to becoming governor in 1993. He did an excellent job as governor and is credited with bringing Mercedes to Alabama.
Little Jim was a brilliant politician inherently being the son of the legendary “Big Jim” Folsom. However, most folks say his beautiful wife, Marsha Guthrie, is the better politician of the two. Jim and Marsha are doing well and live in their hometown of Cullman. Their son and daughter are grown and are doing well.
See you next week.