March 05, 2008
We are four weeks into the 2008 Regular Session of the Legislature. The session is one-third of the way through. It has been a relatively quiet session, probably because nothing much has been accomplished. I guess you might say it has been more successful than last year’s considering no Senators have slugged each other in the face. However, it has pretty much been the same song second verse.
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February 27, 2008
With the start of the New Year the presidential juggernaut bolted out of the gate with a cavalcade of early contests culminating with Super Tsunami Tuesday on February 5th, which included us in Alabama. The race for the White House has clear frontrunners earlier than ever in history. The early primaries have definitely had a winnowing effect. The process has weeded out the wheat from the chaff.
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February 20, 2008
Now that the dust has settled from Super Tuesday the presidential contest is much clearer, especially on the Republican side. Arizona Sen. John McCain has emerged as the GOP frontrunner. He has come full circle in the process. A year ago he was considered the favorite. During the summer he faltered and was counted out for dead. Then he arose from the dead like the Phoenix from Phoenix. His staff calls him Lazarus.
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February 13, 2008
Mike Huckabee’s victory in Alabama was no surprise. If the primary had been held two months earlier he would have won by a larger margin. Polling had him leading by twelve points as late as January 1st. Ever since the evangelical vote crystallized around the Baptist minister in Iowa, the word spread throughout the nation that this is our guy. In a crowded field, where the GOP vote is splintered among several candidates, the evangelical bloc vote becomes insurmountable. Huckabee did well here in the Bible belt, but did not fare as well in the Northeast and the West.
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February 06, 2008
You have an advantage over me because you know the results of Tuesday’s balloting and I do not because I had to go to press prior to Tuesday’s primary voting. However, today the big question is whether the February 5th voting winnowed out the field and gave us clear cut frontrunners?
Yesterday’s Mega Super Tuesday balloting consisted of 22 state primaries, including us, and was to be the waterloo of the presidential primary cavalcade. For many of us, this year is unlike any we have ever witnessed. It is the first presidential election year since 1952 where there is neither an incumbent president running nor a vice president waiting in the wings to move up the ladder. Therefore, it is the most open presidential race in over 56 years. Hence it is only fitting and proper that we have the most undecided race in history.
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January 30, 2008
Next Tuesday, February 5th, will be a red letter political day for Alabama. We will be a full participant in Mega Super Tuesday. We will be one of twenty-two states holding a presidential preference primary that day. It will be the first time in decades that we will have a real say in the party nominees. With this many states, including the most populous states like New York and California voting, we may get an early indication of who will be the nominees for president.
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January 23, 2008
Political campaign gurus and insiders have always known that there is a difference between running for a legislative, congressional or senatorial seat versus a race for mayor, governor or president. The big difference is that voters do not seem to scrutinize the personal and family life of a lawmaker or congressman. They are one of a body of people and people tend to vote more on pure name identification or party affiliation. They especially prefer to vote for incumbents. Interestingly, when polled about the legislature or congress they will rate the body as a whole as a bunch of degenerate idiots who they detest and distrust. However, within the same poll they will rate their legislator or congressman very highly and will rank him or her as the most popular politico in their county or area.
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January 16, 2008
Although our United States Congressmen are up for election every two years, they seldom are challenged. Incumbents win reelection at a 96% rate. Our founding fathers intended for the U.S. House of Representatives to reflect the changing mood of the country and for the House members to be reflective of the electorate in every way. They fully expected the average House member to stay a few terms, four to six years, in Washington and then go home. However, our U.S. House has become a bastion of career legislators whose tenure averages over two decades. Given the advantage of incumbency, if they win a seat a person can expect to retire there with little opposition, unless it is a swing seat or it becomes eliminated by reapportionment.
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January 09, 2008
The cavalcade of presidential preference primaries has begun. They will fall fast and furiously over the next two months and when the dust settles you will have a good idea who will be the Republican and Democratic Party nominees for the November general election.
The dynamics of the presidential race have changed dramatically this year. In years past New Hampshire and Iowa would hold their early primaries and caucuses in January or February. Then there would be a lull and states would fall in a month later and the primaries would be slowly staggered over four or five months up until the summer conventions. That has all changed this year. You will not have a six course slow dinner over six months. Instead you will be served a gigantic buffet on February 5th and then it will be all over but the shouting.
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January 02, 2008
As we enter the New Year we find ourselves in the midst of a political year in full swing. We are off to the races and in full throttle in the 2008 presidential juggernaut. It will be a horserace for both parties’ nomination. It is a wide-open race.
This year’s contest is the first time in many years where not only is there no incumbent president for reelection but neither is there an incumbent vice-president waiting in the wings to move up. It is truly open but the obvious frontrunners have emerged over the course of the past year’s campaigning. The race has indeed been going on at full speed for at least a year.
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