July 16, 2010
This week will determine who the Republican nominee for governor will be as well as for two other secondary statewide offices. However, a good many of this fall’s contenders were selected without runoffs on June 1st.
Our senior U.S. Senator, Richard Shelby, was nominated over nominal opposition. He received 84% of the primary vote and will face similar token opposition in November. He is coasting to a fifth six-year term. He is generally conceded to be Alabama’s most prominent political figure. He is also one of the most powerful senators in Washington.
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July 09, 2010
The marquee match up in next Tuesday’s upcoming runoff races is the Republican gubernatorial contest between Bradley Byrne and Dr. Robert Bentley. The winner will emerge as the favorite to succeed Gov. Bob Riley. It has been a fun and interesting Republican race with lots of twists and turns.
The obvious surprise has been the emergence of Dr. Robert Bentley. If he prevails in the runoff Tuesday he will be tough to beat in the fall. His negatives are so low that it appears hardly anyone dislikes him. His campaign mantra declaring Alabama’s economy is so bad that we need a doctor and his promise not to take a salary as governor until the economy recovers are as good a slogan as I have seen since Albert Brewer’s 1970 declaration that Alabama needs a fulltime governor.
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July 02, 2010
Bradley Byrne’s bold challenging Paul Hubbert’s omnipotence of Goat Hill was like
waving a red flag in front of a raging bull. As we said last week, Hubbert’s fiefdom is to
completely control the Education Budget and policy. That is his sandbox. He does not
mind allowing the governor to play in his sandbox because after all he is the governor.
However, he thinks it somewhat rude and arrogant if you come to play in his sandbox and
kick sand on him.
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June 25, 2010
As the Republican field for governor began to formulate almost two years ago, the players crystallized early in the game. They all figured that the winner of the primary would have a cakewalk to governor because they assumed that an African American congressman named Artur Davis, who had been Barack Obama’s campaign manager in Alabama, would be their Democratic opponent. Therefore, winning the Republican nomination would be tantamount to election.
From the onset the elephant in the field was former Chief Justice Roy Moore. Early polling revealed the book on Moore. He was relegated to being a one issue candidate. He would be the darling of the religious right. These folks constitute about 25% of the Republican primary electorate. Moore’s famous stance as the Ten Commandments Judge endeared him to these folks. Therefore, early reliable polling revealed that Moore was going to get about 25% of the vote. However, it also revealed that he would be hard pressed to get more than that amount. So the book was written on Moore from the beginning. He was going to get 20-25% and no more and would probably not make the runoff with this threshold limitation. He would have very little money and would not attack anybody. Therefore, the other serious players would have to work around Moore’s capture of 20-25% of the vote from the get go.Read more
June 18, 2010
As the 2010 gubernatorial contest began to formulate almost two years ago, the premier face card in the mix was Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. He was expected to skate through the Democratic primary unscathed and arrive at the general election dance unblemished by negative ads and with his campaign coffers untapped. It was expected that a strong field of Republicans would clash over the GOP nomination. Throughout their family feud they would pummel each other with negative ads and the winner of the primary would emerge in mid July beaten up and broke. This bruised and broke nominee would face the fresh and flush Folsom with only three months to recover and Folsom would waltz to victory.
However, a funny thing happened on the way to the dance. A young African American congressman from Birmingham boldly declared his candidacy for governor. Once it became apparent that Artur Davis would not back down and was dedicated to running, Folsom had to reevaluate his plan to run for governor. It was really an easy decision for Folsom. He probably did not want to run for governor anyway. He prefers the life of lieutenant governor. You can make money in the private sector and enjoy your family life with plenty of hunting and fishing because the lieutenant governor does not do anything anyway. Folsom likes having the best of both worlds. Therefore, he graciously and happily acquiesced to Davis’ kamikaze mission to end his promising congressional career.
June 11, 2010
The superstars emerging from the June 1st primaries were Ron Sparks and Dr. Robert Bentley. There were a lot of undecided voters in both parties leading up to last Tuesday’s primaries. Obviously the lion’s share of these voters fell to Bentley and Sparks.
Sparks, the two-term Agriculture Commissioner trounced four-term 7th District Congressman Artur Davis 62% to 38% to capture the Democratic nomination for governor. Sparks was elected Agriculture Commissioner in 2002, the same year that Davis defeated incumbent Congressman Earl Hilliard to capture the 7th Congressional District seat. Davis was on a fast track in Washington. If he had stayed the course he could have been one of Alabama’s greatest congressmen, and we have had some good ones over the years.
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June 04, 2010
You have an advantage on me as the results from Tuesday’s primaries are known to you as you read this column because the column was sent to your newspaper prior to the vote. Undoubtedly we are looking at a July 13th runoff for governor on the Republican side. The Democratic nominee has been decided.
The governor’s race is the marquee political event in Alabama politics. This year’s race is even more intriguing because it is the first time in two decades that we have not had an incumbent governor on the ballot.
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May 28, 2010
As we enter the last few days of campaigning leading up to next Tuesday’s Democratic and Republican primaries the candidate’s messages may get muffled by the Memorial Day weekend. Voters may be more interested in vacationing, picnicking or barbequing than political television ads. However, we will wake up from the revelry of the first summer holiday weekend to face a full slate of candidates from governor to coroner.
We will begin the process by picking the successor to two-term Republican Governor Bob Riley. The Democrats will pick their nominee for governor on Tuesday. Because there only two aspirants, there will be no need for a runoff. Four-term Democratic Congressman Artur Davis has forfeited his safe congressional seat to seek to become the first African American governor of the Heart of Dixie. His opponent is two-term Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks. They have waged a spirited battle.Read more
May 21, 2010
The Governor's race is always the marquee event in Alabama politics. That will be especially true this year because the race is wide open. This is the first time that an incumbent governor has not been on the ballot in 20 years.
However, the Republican primary for attorney general may very well be as interesting and competitive as any contest on the ballot this year. The winner of this battle royale between incumbent Troy King and challenger Luther Strange will be the odds on favorite to take home all the marbles in the fall. Alabama voters have tended to favor a Republican in the Attorney General's office for two decades now.Read more
May 12, 2010
When compared to the other three years of the quadrennium the 2010 Legislative Session should be considered a success. First of all, anytime the legislature passes the budgets on time it should be considered an accomplishment. This year they passed the Education and General Fund Budgets with days to spare but very little time or effort was expended in crafting and drafting these budgets. The documents have no rhyme of reason when compared to the actual fiscal needs. The legislature simply passed something knowing full well that the wheels are going to come off about the same time that the budgets go into effect in October.
However, you cannot blame legislators for passing the buck. Governor Bob Riley takes the cake for kicking the can down the road. He wins the Pollyanna award for proposing a budget based on federal stimulus money that might or might not come down the road. Whoever inherits this ship of state is walking onto the deck of the Titanic. The gubernatorial aspirants should be required to undergo extensive mental examinations to evaluate their sanity for wanting the job of governor.
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