January 24, 2007
One of the things that is obvious to astute observers of the political system is how pervasive the abuse of PAC to PAC campaign contributions has proliferated. Just when you thought it could not get any worse it has this past year. In order to have any semblance of a campaign disclosure law in Alabama, PAC to PAC transfers must be banned. It is nothing more than money laundering.
January 17, 2007
Last week’s organizational session of the Legislature played out with as much drama as expected. A few weeks ago it was an understatement when I suggested to you that it was anybody’s guess what the final result of the battle for control of the State Senate would yield. It remained a mystery up until the roll call vote was taken shortly after noon on January 9th.
January 10, 2007
George Wallace was a product of rural Alabama and came of age during the Great Depression. Alabamians who knew the Depression days are dwindling every year, much like our treasured World War II Veterans. Tom Brokaw was right when he called them the “Greatest Generation.” They made our country great.
January 03, 2007
As the dust settles on the old year and we begin the new I will share a few political observations from the 2006 election year.
First of all I was amazed at the accuracy of the polling data. In my years of following politics I have never seen such amazing prognostications on the Alabama political scene. Reliable tracking polls the day before the election predicted a 58 to 42 Riley margin of victory over Lucy Baxley and that is what happened.
December 27, 2006
As the year 2006 comes to a close let’s reminisce about what happened politically in our state. This being an election year the races for Governor and other statewide contests were the big story. However, the election was almost preempted by the Don Siegelman corruption conviction. Siegelman’s trial lasted for months and dominated the news for almost half of the year. The investigation and ultimate indictment had been brewing for years. It ended in June with Siegelman’s conviction.
December 20, 2006
When the votes were counted on November 7th the results revealed very few surprises. Bob Riley was reelected Governor. Eight out of nine members of the Supreme Court are Republicans. The GOP also claimed five of the seven constitutional offices including Governor. Five of our seven members of Congress are Republican and both of our U.S. Senators. You add to the fact that Alabama has voted for a Republican for President nine out of eleven of the last Presidential races. In the last 42 years only once have we voted for a Democrat, Georgian Jimmy Carter in 1976, and then only narrowly.
December 13, 2006
Last week’s column expounded on the looming 2008 Presidential Race. It is obvious that the apparent GOP frontrunner is Sen. John McCain from Arizona who is considered a moderate by republican standards. However, McCain has veered more to the right over the past year positioning himself for the republican primaries. It reminds me of a saying made popular by the legendary House Speaker Sam Rayburn, “you have to go along to get along.”
December 06, 2006
Now that our Alabama gubernatorial race has concluded the jockeying will begin for the next governor’s race in 2010 four years from now. In the same vein the 2008 Presidential Race has been going on for two years. It began the day George W. Bush was elected to his second and final term. The lack of an incumbent leaves the door open for a wild free-for-all and it is just that with as many as twenty presidential aspirants testing the water. They have inundated the early primary states of New Hampshire and Iowa with their appearances. There are a lot more candidates than ever before and they are campaigning at a full throttle pitch much earlier than usual.
November 29, 2006
When Bob Riley took office in January of 2003 he had just survived one of the most bruising gubernatorial elections in history. His razor thin margin of victory over Don Siegelman hardly gave him a mandate for major accomplishment in state government. He and Siegelman had so pulverized each other in campaign ads that most voters wondered why both were not in jail and ironically a cloud was brewing over Siegelman and he indeed would be heading for jail.
November 22, 2006
If you like politics and also enjoy a good movie I highly recommend the recently released comedy starring Robin Williams entitled “Man of the Year.” Williams plays a television talk show comedian who specializes in political commentary and satire of national politicians. His satirical comical exploits make him a wildly popular television personality. One day on his show he whimsically says I will run for President and is immediately bombarded with positive emails from throughout the country urging him to indeed run for President. He is enticed to run by the obvious popular draft so he runs as a third party candidate and wins.