December 09, 2009
Old Fob James had a quixotic political personality. When he was out of the Governor’s office he showed a tremendous yearning to get back. The proof is he sought the office in 1986 and lost in the Democratic primary and lost again in 1990 in the primary. However, he came back and won in 1994 as a Republican. However, once he got the job he acted as if he did not want it.
As mentioned a few weeks earlier, Fob set a new standard for alienating his friends and supporters during his first term from 1978-1982. If you were his friend or supporter he refused to even see you. He seemed a little detached during his first term. However, if you think he fumbled his first term, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” because the second term was a nightmare.
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December 02, 2009
When Guy Hunt won the Governor’s race over Bill Baxley in 1986 it was well publicized that he was a part-time Primitive Baptist preacher. He was also billed as a part-time Amway salesman. These common man vocations appealed to the average Alabama voter. It was Hunt’s calling as a Baptist preacher that resonated warmly with his constituency. Alabamians are very religious and very Baptist.
Hunt had done surprisingly well as governor for four years and turned back Paul Hubbert’s Democratic challenge for his reelection to a second term in 1990. He worked hard to have an agenda and get some of it accomplished. He had a reasonable expectation of accomplishment. During much of his first term the state legislature languished in the throws of a war over tort reform.
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November 25, 2009
When Guy Hunt took office as the first Republican governor in January of 1987 not much was expected of him. After all, he had been elected only because of the backlash resulting from the handpicking of Bill Baxley over Charlie Graddick by the Democratic Party leadership. Very few people voted for Hunt because they thought he was the better choice or that his credentials rendered him more qualified.
Hunt was a simple man, a rural hard shell Baptist preacher. However, the Republican leadership realized they had been given a golden opportunity so they seized the moment and surrounded Hunt with good people. Most Alabamians warmed to him. He worked hard to get to know the legislature and put together a legislative majority comprised of Republicans and conservative Democrats. He had an uncomplicated agenda and worked to get his programs passed.
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November 18, 2009
While we have been strolling down memory lane reminiscing about our past Governor’s races, the ever-present electronic bingo issue has been percolating around the Goat Hill scene. As always, our current governor, Bob Riley, has engrossed himself into the issue.
Riley’s obsessive involvement with the gambling quagmire borders on compulsive irrationality. His usual reasonable behavior and demeanor of governing is thrown out the window when it comes to gaming. It is a parody that evades reason or understanding. His ubiquitous obsession and animosity towards this entertainment industry makes him look like an obsessed adolescent.
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November 11, 2009
The 1986 Governor’s race will be remembered as one of Alabama’s most amazing political stories. In 1978 Fob James sent the Three B’s, Brewer, Beasley and Baxley packing. Brewer and Beasley had been permanently exiled to Buck’s Pocket, the mythical destination for defeated Alabama gubernatorial candidates. However, Bill Baxley resurrected his political career by bouncing back to be elected lt. governor in 1982, while George Wallace was winning his fifth and final term as governor. Another player arrived on the state political scene. Charlie Graddick was elected as a fiery tough lock ‘em up and throw away the key attorney general. Graddick had previously been a tough prosecuting district attorney in Mobile.
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November 04, 2009
As George Wallace presumably faded into the sunset, Fob James took the reigns of Alabama state government in January of 1979. Fob’s inauguration was a somewhat strange event as Alabamians were used to a Wallace being sworn in as governor every fourth January since 1963. It had been 20 years since someone other than George or Lurleen Wallace had taken the oath on the steps of the Capitol where Jefferson Davis had been sworn in as president of the confederacy.
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October 28, 2009
The 1978 Governor’s race between the three heavyweights, former Governor Albert Brewer, Attorney General Bill Baxley, and Lt. Governor Jere Beasley, was expected to be titanic. All three men had last names beginning with the letter “B,” thus the press coined the phrase “the three B’s.” The Republicans were relegated to insignificance on the gubernatorial stage. Therefore, the winner of the Democratic Primary would be governor.
Meanwhile, over in east Alabama, a little known former Auburn halfback named Fob James strolled into the governor’s race. Fob’s entry evoked very little interest, only curiosity as to why he would want to enter the fray against three well known major players. Fob was exposed as a card carrying Republican whose only political experience had been as a member of the Lee County Republican executive committee, but even a political novice like Fob knew he could not win as a Republican so he qualified to run as a Democrat along with the three B’s.
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October 21, 2009
Albert Brewer began the writing of George Wallace’s political obituary by beating him in the first primary in 1970. However, Wallace arose from the grave by playing his ever present race card. He trumped Brewer with the race issue in the primary runoff and came from behind to win. He resurrected his political career. Wallace would be governor again for a third time.
Brewer had mortally wounded Wallace with his slogan, “Alabama needs a fulltime governor.” It was a stake through the heart to the Wallace segregationist armor. Alabamians loved Wallace for fighting integration but they also knew he had not been working fulltime as their Governor. Instead, he had been using the title to campaign for president although he was as about as likely to succeed as Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Brewer offered Alabamians the opportunity to have a fulltime, hands on, progressive Governor.
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October 14, 2009
Upon Lurleen Wallace’s death in May of 1968, Lt. Governor Albert Brewer moved up to Governor. Brewer was no novice to state government. He came to the legislature from Morgan County at a very early age and rose quickly to become speaker of the house during his second term. He won the 1966 Lt. Governor’s race against two state senators without a runoff. Brewer was smart and articulate with a charming smile and winning personality. He had lots of friends in the legislature and seemed to have very few enemies. Brewer also had a good grasp of state politics. He smoothly took the reigns of state government and began to make improvements. His popularity and relationships with his fellow legislators gave his programs easy sailing. Brewer became a working governor.
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October 07, 2009
After Ryan De Graffenreid’s plane crash and death in February of 1966 the Governor’s race was wide open. De Graffenreid would have been governor in a cakewalk but it was now a new ballgame with less than ten weeks until the May election. George Wallace mulled it over for a few weeks, then the amazing story of his wife Lurleen Wallace running for governor came to fruition. George would be her number one advisor.
The idea of George Wallace running his wife, Lurleen, in his place had been tossed out by a few of his cronies as a joke. They never thought of it while De Graffenreid was alive and running. Lurleen would not have run if De Graffenreid had not tragically died but a real vacuum existed after that fateful February night and the Wallace name was magic. After a few weeks the idea grew on Wallace. He made calls to every county in the state and began to realize that dog might hunt.
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