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Back mid-July Senator Barack Obama visited Birmingham, Alabama for the first time and did something that absolutely shocked me. (By that time, Politics In Alabama had been placed in the cubbard and I blogged about this new type of politics on my personal blog.)

During that post I stated that Obama was on to and idea that could possibly sweep the nation.

The event was a major success. I ate my words - Barack Obama knows what he is doing. Not only did he raise in excess of $50,000 but he allowed over 2000 people access to him. This now means that 2000 people in Alabama feel invested into his campaign. They feel now that he is their candidate - and they are going to go home and tell 2,3,4,5 maybe even 10 people about their candidate.

Fast-forward 7 months and we now see that Senator Obama is leading the nomination for the Democratic Party while changing the of way the game of Politics.

This strategy deployed by the Obama camp is one of listening and compassion. His infectious personality is identifying with people that have never been interested in politics before, both Republican and Democrat. We see him being able to raise money both from Wal-Mart workers to the billionaire talk show host. Its an unprecedented move that has caught the entire political community by surprise.

As I have thought more and more about this I cannot but help to agree with what so many people have said. Barack Obama is the President Ronald Reagan for the Democratic Party.

And the fact that Obama himself has so much respect and honor for President Reagan, scares me to death because honestly I do not think Senator John McCain can beat this new hybrid type of politician.

One more thing, this type of race is a prequel of what we will see next year when Rep. Artur Davis starts his quest to be our next Governor. Unfortunately for Republicans (me), it is going to be an incredibly difficult challenge that we are eager to participate in.

In my other thread on the Congressional District 2 race being wide open I mentioned that State Senator Harri Anne Smith is considering the bid. This became the debate within the comments of the Daily Dixie Readers - hitting almost 40 response. A majority of the debate was between those stating that the Senator from Slocomb, Alabama has plans to run for CD2 or that she is not going to do it.

Well now we know she is definitively considering the run:

Smith flirted with a gubernatorial run two years ago, but backed out and supported Bob Riley when the incumbent governor announced he would seek re-election. Smith also said it was too early to discuss her qualifications because she had not made an official decision to run, but she did say she was giving it strong consideration. Smith’s voting record as a state senator is strongly conservative.

I have been involved in Republican State politics for a few years now and I can assure that you if Senator Smith wants this seat, she will win it. Charles Nailen will be a tough competition but he does not have the experience or grassroots capacity that Sen. Smith does. With that said, Gov. Riley and Congressman Everett were both great businessman who hired great Campaign Staff to organize and win. We will have to see what Nailen does, because at this point if Senator Smith wants to run, it is her’s for the taken.

Also, please do not start throwing out Democrats who are running as we all know there is no chance for them to take this seat in that area….

That is the word now that Congressman Everett is not running for re-election.

“In February, I will celebrate my 71st birthday,” Everett said in a written statement released this morning. “While there remains much work to be accomplished by Congress, I made a difficult decision over the weekend not to seek election for a ninth term. The decision was difficult because of my love for the people of my district, and my love for the work I do on my three committees. It had been my intention until last week to seek re-election, including a run for the Chair or Ranking on the Committee on Agriculture. However, there is a season for all things and it is time for me to enter the next phase of my life, and pass the mantle to the next generation.”

So who are the list of potential candidates to replace Everett that have popped up so far?

Republicans

• Jay Love
• Barry Mask
• Harri Anne Smith
• Benjamin Lewis
• Troy King
• George Wallace, Jr.

Democrats

• Bobby Bright

I definitely see Harri Anne Smith getting into the race and possibly even Wallace. I think Troy King might have his sites set on the Governor’s race in 2010 - but who knows.

I participated with fellow bloggers on a conference call with Governor Mike Huckabee who is a Republican candidate for President. This is my third time joining the conference call and I have to say it is a great idea! Vince and the web team for Explore Huckabee Team are doing a fabulous job!

My question was in regards to the action that President Bush took yesterday. He responded that “the decision to give Clemency given was a long hard decision and that he would respect the decision that the President made.”

I was kind of surprised here, I was expecting the Governor to either go to the left or right, but not stand in the center. While I am a staunch Republican I am not sure this was the best idea for President Bush, but then again I am not in that position to make the decision.

I look forward to more of these conference calls with the Explore Huckabee team.

If you where on the call, what questions would you ask Gov. Huckabee?

On Thursday morning I will have the privilege of meeting and talking with United States Representative Artur Davis while he is in town at his Birmingham office. I hope to be able to discuss some of the going ons of Alabama Politics as well as chat with him about his future political endeavors.

One thing I wanted to do was give my readers an opportunity to submit questions that I will present to Representative Davis. Obviously I am not going to be able to get every question answered, but I will hopefully get a majority of them. So please, submit all questions via the comments and I will post Wednesday night exactly which questions I hope to ask.

• Crossposted from Politics in Alabama 

Wheeler gave some great commentary on Thursday in regards to why he thinks the PAC to PAC ban will not make it out of the legislature this year. He does make a great argument, but I still believe (hope) that it will be passed.

First, the decision about the pay raise is one where the primary benefits or costs will be born by someone with no say in the decision. That is, giving themselves a huge pay raise - whatever the merits of that decision - is a decision for which they get all the benefits and we bear all the costs. On the other hand, if they don’t provide the raise, they lose the money, but we see our resources conserved. Ditto banning PAC-PAC transfers. We bear all the costs of keeping them, while the legislature would bear all the costs of getting rid of them. Right now, every one of these folks gets to hide their donors behind PAC transfers, receiving the benefit of anonymous donations. Meanwhile us voters pay the costs of being unable to discover to whom our legislators are beholden. Now, in light of how they decided the pay raise issue - by benefiting themselves and burdening us - how do you think the PAC-PAC issue will end? This doesn’t look like a group into self-sacrifice.

Second, the PAC-PAC ban is all about open government. We want to know who is giving money to who. That way we can properly evaluate our candidates. Given that they just decided, with the exception of a few Republicans (and good for them), in an unrecorded voice vote to give themselves a huge raise, I’m less confident than I was yesterday that open government and accountability are very highly valued by the current legislature.

My main reason for believing that this will pass is every single candidate (democratic and republican) this past general election ran on banning PAC to PAC transfers. Most are already on the record with their constituents on how they feel about the issue - which will make a voice vote no problem what so ever.

With that being said - the bill I believe we will see passed is one that is watered down so much that the normal every day person will think it is a victory for the people. Unfortunately when you look closer at the bill it will be a well crafted, misleading, and have many holes for legislatures to continue to funnel money around. Hopefully I am wrong, but I doubt it.

• Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

Just in case you have not noticed The Birmingham News hates Troy King more then any other candidate in the State (or country for that matter). Yesterday they released another story at AG King that is not going to help his already beaten character.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King asked Roy Johnson last year to provide money to a victims’ advocacy group while his office was investigating the state’s two-year college system, headed by Johnson as chancellor.

Miriam Shehane, executive director of Victims of Crime and Leniency, said King accompanied her to a meeting with Johnson to ask the two-year college system to provide grant money for VOCAL.

The meeting, in March 2006, came months after the attorney general’s office and federal prosecutors began investigating the two-year college system. A spokesman for King said the request was not improper because King was not asking for anything for himself.

It was not the first time he’d gone to Johnson with a request. King stepped aside from the investigation of the two-year college system in November after it was reported that he asked Johnson in late 2005 to consider hiring the mother of an employee in King’s office.

He also has been criticized recently because he, his family and friends used Alabama Power Co.’s luxury box at Turner Field free of charge for an Atlanta Braves baseball game. King, as attorney general, represents Alabama Power’s customers before the state Public Service Commission, which decides such things as how much the power company is allowed to charge for electricity.

King spokesman Chris Bence said Shehane and King had talked about VOCAL’s losing some funding and the possibility that law enforcement grants could be available from the two-year college system.

“The attorney general and Ms. Shehane decided that it was worth seeing if some of that funding would qualify to help VOCAL,” Bence said.

“She asked him - because of his knowledge about law enforcement, government and victims - would he accompany her and help her explain their needs to see if they perhaps would qualify and receive some of the grants. … He agreed to do that,” Bence said.

I have stayed out of the “mishaps” of Troy King but in the words of some old guy, “where there is smoke, there is fire.”

If you do not believe me, take a look at this (massive) list of his issues reported by Dan over at Between The Links. I would paste it here, but the list is incredibly to long.

Please read over the list and make your mind up for yourself. The facts are presented in a way that will require at the minimum a full blown ethical investigation into his office and the actions of Troy King.

Cross posted at Politics in Alabama

The Alabama Senate made some major changes to the Rules this week they abide by, mainly reducing the number of votes needed to squash a filibuster from 21 to 18.

One of several rule changes reduces the number of senators needed to limit debate and call for a vote on bills related to the budget and to redistricting from 21 to 18 — the same number of senators who voted for a Democratic majority led by new Senate President Pro Tempore Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove.

“They’re some pretty tough rules,” Mitchem said. “If we did not have tight rules, it would be hard to govern.”

The new rules will allow the Senate to govern despite the dissension, he said.

I am going to reserve my comment on this until as I list a few other rule changes

• another rule will require greater organization by those in the minority. Previously, six senators could petition in writing that all votes on a particular day be recorded “roll call” tallies — not voice votes, in which each member’s vote is not recorded. The new rules state that three senators must request a roll call on each individual vote.
• the addition of a deputy president pro tempore position. The committee on assignments would appoint the deputy pro tem, who will have the right to vote as a member of standing committees, with the exception of the committee on assignments and committees on local legislation.

  The creation of the position adds an additional Democratic vote to committees. Other senators in leadership roles can vote in standing committees.

This is going to sum up the entire next 4 years. Democrats are punishing the republicans by changing the amount of votes needed to squash a filibuster, as well as giving themselves an extra vote with the creation of the deputy pro tem.

Speaking of this deputy pro tem position, I do not think it is even legal. For a member to have voting power it has to be elected by the people, and not appointed.

It truly is back to the same ole’ process over the next 4 years, nothing has changed for the democrats. The Covenant with Alabama they introduced 4 years ago is already being pushed aside, mark my words.

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

So now we know exactly why Smitherman left the coalition yesterday, he is going to be awarded the job of Senate Pro Tem in 2009.

Mitchem said he intends to be pro-tem for just two years. He said he plans to step down Jan. 1, 2009, and recommend that Smitherman follow him as pro-tem. Smitherman said the 18 senators who voted for Mitchem as pro-tem have committed to vote for him in 2009, though he agreed there’s no guarantee that will happen.

To me that is quite a big gamble for Smitherman, but does not at all surprise me. I stated yesterday on the radio that I was sure that he received something for him (not his district) that made him change his mind.

So we will move forward now and today they will be naming the chairs of each committee, so that should be interesting to see who is assigned where.

Media Roundup
Doc’s Political Parlor
Between The Links
Flashpoint
Straight Talk Alabama
Loretta Nall
Red State Diaries
The Birmingham News
Press Register
The Huntsville Times
The Montgomery Advertiser

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

With the state of the Alabama Legislature starting this week (tomorrow) there is a new brand new bill tracking system, which I love!!

You can now track Alabama Bills within the Legislature using LgDB.

Now anyone interested in legislation going through the statehouse in Alabama can search for free on LgDb.com. The full text of the bill is there, along with easy links to sponsors and more. If users want the security of knowing they are looking at the official state version of the bill, there’s a link to that, too, on each bill’s page on LgDb.com. This means that anyone can search on LgDb.com rather than search on the state’s page, and still see the text of the bill from the state, and then quickly find similar bills in other states, or contact information for bill sponsors.

That’s all free. For the professional there’s much more. Lobbyists can set up bill sheets, adding just the bills they want and letting LgDb update the status of each bill. LgDb Pro subscribers can also set up stakeholder groups, dramatically improving communication among Legislative Advisory Committees. LgDb Pro subscribers can also choose the option of displaying their bill sheet on their own web page, so that associations and membership groups can keep members informed all the time, rather than with a monthly newsletter.

“I’m very excited to have the Alabama information available on our site,” said Scott Yates, founder and president of LgDb.com. “I founded this site because I thought it was crazy that you can find all of Clint Eastwood’s movies in a couple of clicks, but it’s hard to find much out about bills. And for lobbyists, the technology for how they do their job hasn’t changed much since the fax machine, until now.”

I love this new system and if you have not signed up yet to help you track bills that are important to you - then I suggest you do so as soon as possible. So far it is much easier to track bills by many of the topics I find important. Right now there is nothing within their database from the Alabama Legislature, but as the new legislature convenes into session this week we are going to see an increasing amount of work introduced on this system.

I have added their video about using the system below the fold so you can watch how to use it as well as see some of the cool features. I cannot get it to add on this blog, so maybe Dan can link it up. For now just browse over to my blog if you would like to view the video.

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

So much so that chairmen Joe Turnham has sent a letter to the 23 Democratic senators begging for them to come together and settle their differences.

The letter from party chairman Joe Turnham comes at a time when three Democratic senators are seeking the post of president pro tem. The letter is dated Dec. 27, the same day it was announced that Sen. Jim Preuitt, D-Talladega, had the votes needed for the post thanks to support from the Republican Caucus and six other Democrats.

Turnham said he’s offering a way to ensure there are no hard feelings and the senators have a productive term. The senators will set operating rules in the Senate for the next four years at Tuesday’s session.

“I don’t want to see any caucus, any individual, any Democrat at the end of the day be ostracized or not be empowered by the way the Senate’s organized,” Turnham said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

He expects “a lot of activity” this week as senators hold various meetings and teleconferences.

“I humbly ask each of you in the next several days to meet collectively as 23 Democrats and agree to find common ground and ways we can work together to avoid rancor and political ostracism prior to Jan. 9,” Turnham writes in the letter. “I will be willing to facilitate any informal or formal meeting and will be glad to demur to Lt. Governor Folsom to conduct this meeting.”

He adds: that “each of you owe it to the party to meet together (regardless of political commitments you have already made) and try to compromise and heal the wounds, breeches and differences that divide us as fellow Democrats.”

I have said this before, but there is a major split in the Alabama Democratic party and it is getting much wider as the days move forward. And to think that Turnham going to make peace is ludicrous as he is a big reason why there is a split.

What will be interesting to see is how long they continue to try and “heal the wounds” among their party leadership. I can see this lasting into the first month or so of the legislative session which would be a major blow for their “Covenant for the Future.”

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

State Senator. Scott Beason of Gardendale has thrown his hat into the run for the Alabama GOP’s top position.

State Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale said Tuesday he is considering a run for state Republican Party chairman, and that he plans to write GOP activists to get their opinions on his possible candidacy and on the priorities the party should pursue.

“I think I would bring a different perspective to the party than has been there the last few years,” Beason said. “If I have an expertise politically, it’s on grass roots. I think we can’t build from the top down. We’ve been trying to do that for a while.”

Beason’s comments come after a general election in which Republicans easily retained the governor’s office and all but one seat on the appellate courts, but did nowhere near as well as party leaders had hoped.

In a statement on the party Web site, state GOP chairman Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who plans to run for a second two-year term, called Alabama “a bright spot on the map for Republicans in this country.”

Beason makes a great point on his “grassroots” skills and he is a younger gentleman that I believe could bring some youth to a party that is badly needing to recruit younger people.

The problem is he is young, inexperienced on a state level - and while I think will give Twinkle a run for her money will fail to achieve the chairmanship.

**Update**
It seems that there is a new player. Rep. Mike Hubbard is now running for the GOP Chairman. Twinkle is not running it seems. I am getting the Press Releases up and online ASAP.

**Update 2**
Not only is Rep. Mike Hubbard now running for the Chairman of the State GOP, but he has the backing of the Governor as well.

• Hubbard Release on Announcement
• Governor Riley Press Release
• Twinkle’s Press Release Announcing She is not Running

So my original observation is now useless, as Twinkle is not running but a much more powerful figure in Rep. Mike Hubbard is running. This still does not improve Beason’s chance of winning as Hubbard posses same of the same qualities that Beason does. The one thing Beason still will have going for him is his ability to rally a strong grass roots effort. So while many think Hubbard will win hands down, I will not be surprised to see Beason make this race much closer come February.

Crossposted at Between the Links

Speaking to the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual lunch yesterday at “The Club,” Governor Riley blasted local leaders for their lack of leadership in the Birmingham Community.

“You have got to put priorities of the area over political priorities,” Riley told the 560 business and civic leaders at the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual lunch with the governor. “There has to be a single voice from Birmingham. This group should take that initiative. We are willing to cooperate, but there has to be a solidifying of support.”

The governor pointed to three major initiatives the community cannot agree on: Money for UAB, which he said is “now sitting in a savings account”; unclogging traffic-choked U.S. 280; and expanding the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

Other areas of Alabama are moving forward with crucial initiatives, the governor said, because leaders in those communities have vision and are united in their requests.

“There is no limit to the amount of influence in this room, and what you can accomplish, if you speak in a unified voice in Montgomery,” the governor told the group. “It’s time to stop talking about alternative solutions and settle on one solution, and it will happen.”

But, Riley warned, “If you continue to have the same debates, we will have this same conversation four years from now.”

What the governor said yesterday could not be any more true. The leadership in Birmingham (Jefferson County) is poor at best. The leaders continue to squander every oppurtunity away while pursuing their own agendas and not the agenda that is best for the citizens of Birmingham and Jefferson County.

Unfortunately I think in four years the same conversation will continue, as the current leaders that are elected in Birmingham and Jefferson County are not what is needed to lead the area. Unless we see a massive change in rhetoric I cannot see any type of change being made.

What do you think? Is the City and County on the wrong track? If so, who do you think should be removed from leadership in Jefferson County? If I had that magic wand, I would remove Langford and Smoot as quickly as possible, while also replacing Kincaid.

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

So it seems Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh is going to be running for re-election as the chairman for the Alabama State Republican Party. Joe Turnham on the other hand has not made up his mind. Both are expressing great interest in working through the new (sooner) Alabama Presidential Primary.

She said she would like to continue through the 2008 elections because Alabama’s new presidential primary in February will make the state a major player in national politics, unlike past years when Alabama was at the end of the presidential primaries.

Turnham, the Democratic Party’s leader since 2005, recounted how he worked with Cavanaugh to get the Legislature to move up Alabama’s presidential primary and said he’d like to be involved in it.

Both chairs are going to face some issues in their re-election bids. Cavanaugh has the issue of numerous upset county chairs as well as her “gay bashing” incident in North Alabama. Turnham on the election issues - mainly the House District 51 drama which basically split the entire Democratic Party.

What do you think? Will both be re-elected or will be there someone new coming up in the ranks?

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama

I gave my personal commentary on the individual races in my earlier post, but I wanted to make a point about the Lt. Governor and Chief Justice’s race, as well as overall conservative turnout.

If you take look back Voter Turnout since 1986 in an off presidential election, you will see that the turnout for this years election was tied for the worst turnout (1990). Only 51% of the registered voters turned out to vote for this election. This is compared to 58% just four years ago. The reason why you ask? Read on….

For the last 10 days, Stan Pate has been bombarding the TV and Radio with negative ads against Governor Bob Riley. While everyone laughed this off, including myself, the affect his ads had on Alabama were detrimental. What these negative ads against Governor Riley did was keep conservative voting Alabamians home for the election - and not voting republican. In turn, we saw a major dip in the Governor’s numbers (only winning by 16 points) and in turn causing the lost of Republican Candidates Luther Strange and Drayton Nabers in their respective races. When the Governor’s numbers where polling above the 60% mark, he carried the two other candidates, but with the negative after negative attack ad coming from Stan Pate, we saw these numbers dip and in turn Strange and Nabers lost their bid for Lt. Governor and Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

So while the blame could go to the national politics affecting our State (and it did, but not nearly enough); the blame is being dumped on to Stan Pate from this Alabama Republican. He cost the republican party a chance at sweeping the Alabama Court races, as well as taking control of the Alabama Senate by winning the Lt. Governor’s race.

I know there are other factors at play here – but the bottom line was voter turnout. If the turnout was up, and around the 60% mark, then I believe Strange and Nabers are winners. The national politics played a factor as did the attack ads ran on TV, but nothing played a more greater role then Voter Turnout.

So tell me, do you agree or disagree?

In a new poll that was just released recently (9/28), Gov. Riley is sitting on a comfortable 16% lead. Below is the results of the poll:

This is obviously great news for the Governor and re-enforces my point I made a few days back that the major democrats in the state have moved their backings to Lt. Governor candidate Jim Folsom Jr. According to Danny, Folsom is ahead of Strange right now by around 4% (Folsom 43% - Strange 39%). Margin of error is only 3.5%, so we shall see how this race this goes. There is still 18% undecided in this race, so it is far from over.

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama.

Crossposted at Politics in Alabama yesterday.

This is something that I have been thinking of lately and have talked about with a few people, but I feel that some of the major democrats (not necessarily the Democratic Party) have given up on Lucy Baxley winning in November.

Before you jump to the comments section to tell me I am an idiot and wrong. Look at this.

Jim Folsom Jr. raised $982,109 while Lucy Baxley raised only $796,109. This of course is for this session only. If you take a look over the reports and put them in chronological order you will see they (Baxley and Folsom) were neck in neck up until about the last month when Folsom started pulling ahead getting big contributions. The major democratic money givers backed off giving money to Baxley, and instead decided to focus their efforts on Folsom Jr., who they believe will be the next governor of Alabama (in 2010).

While I am sure you will never get any major democrat to admit this, I believe there was a backroom meeting among the big money givers (including Paul Hubbert), and they decided that it was time to focus on Folsom’s campaign against Strange and give up on Baxley.

Another supporting fact is seeing the major push of support from local democrats to Jim Folsom Jr’s campaign and the lack of support being given to Baxley. I have talked to a few people inside the local Democratic Party in Jefferson County and they have agreed that there is a major push for volunteers to the Folsom camp, and not to the Baxley camp.

So what do you think? Has the major Democratic Party contributors backed off on supporting Baxley against Bob Riley? Are they focusing on the race for the Governor’s mansion in 2010? I think so, but I am curious as to what you all think.

• Atlanta.voic.us links to this post with Alabama: Democrats in Give-up Mode 

State law creates roadblock to ballot

Loretta Nall is running for governor this year, but voters won’t find her name on the November ballot.

As a third-party contender, the Libertarian from Alexander City was unable to clear some of the nation’s highest hurdles to get on that ballot. Instead, she has had to stake her hopes on a write-in bid.

“It’s a huge obstacle,” Nall said, referring to Alabama’s requirement that third-party or independent candidates running statewide this year collect more than 41,000 signatures.

As of Tuesday, a half-dozen independent and third-party candidates are certified for the Nov. 7 ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s office, and all are running for local posts or the Legislature.

Alabama is just one of four states this year — New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and New Mexico are the others — that have no such candidates seeking statewide office, said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, a California-based publication that tracks legal developments in that arena.

In Mississippi, where the rules are far less restrictive, three third-party candidates ran in the state’s last gubernatorial election in 2003, and at least six more were on the ballot for other statewide offices.

I have to agree that our laws are awful, and change needs to be made. The problem is, I do not see any legislatures making this a high priority as it really does not effect them or is it something they can take back home to run on.

Loretta Nall has been working just as hard as Lucy Baxley and Bob Riley, and deserves to be on the ballot. Unfortunately she will not be, but she is making a great case for the legislatures to change the law in their next session.

Loretta Nall responds to the article here.