December 07, 2005
Don Siegelman defeated Fob James in the 1998 Governor’s race by a landslide 18-point margin. Siegelman ran on an overt platform favoring a state lottery for Alabama. He patterned his campaign and lottery issue after Georgia Governor Zell Miller’s plan. Georgia earmarked their lottery for education and called it the Hope Scholarship Program. Under Miller’s Georgia plan any deserving Georgia high school graduate with at least a “B” average could go to any Georgia college tuition free with proceeds from the Georgia lottery. It was working in Georgia, so Siegelman sold it all over Alabama. He perceived that his lottery issue had propelled him into the Governor’s office. He should have remembered the initial poll he saw in 1996 showing Fob James was so unpopular that anybody could have beaten him. George Wallace had lived by the adage that more people vote against someone that for someone. The people were not as much in favor of Siegelman’s lottery as they were against Fob.
November 30, 2005
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, but once he got the job he acted as if he did not want it.
November 23, 2005
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 which resonated warmly with his constituency. Alabamians are very religious and very Baptist.
November 16, 2005
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. He 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.
November 09, 2005
The 1986 Governor’s race will be remembered as amazing a story as the 1978 Fob James miracle run where Fob put away the Three B’s, Brewer, Beasley and Baxley. Brewer and Beasley had been permanently exiled to Bucks 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.
November 02, 2005
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 1958. It had been 20 years since someone other than George or Lurleen Wallace had taken the oath on the old Capitol steps where Jefferson Davis had been sworn in as President of the Confederacy.
October 26, 2005
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 still satisfied picking their candidates in backroom caucuses and did not field a gubernatorial candidate. Therefore the winner of the Democratic Primary would be Governor.
October 19, 2005
Albert Brewer began the writing of George Wallace’s political obituary by beating him in the first primary in 1970. However, George 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 and resurrected his political career. Wallace would be Governor again for a third time.
October 12, 2005
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, Neil Metcalf and John Tyson, 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 government. 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.
October 05, 2005
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 10 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.