State Political Profile: Alabama
Governor
The cast: A Republican incumbent who, buoyed by a strong economy, whipped Alabama's Ten Commandments judge in the Republican primary; Alabama's first female lieutenant governor who won the Democratic primary by defeating a former governor who was on trial on election day.
The show: Alabama's general election for governor.
The story line: In a state where George C. Wallace and James E. "Big Jim" Folsom made races for governor a must-watch event on the political stage, the current campaign offered high drama in the primary that may not be as evident in the fall contest.
On the Republican side, Gov. Bob Riley rallied his business backers after a failed $1.2 billion tax plan during his first year in office. With a $5.5 million campaign chest -- twice as much as all the other candidates for governor combined -- he beat Alabama's Ten Commandments crusader, former Chief Justice Roy Moore, by a 2-to-1 margin in the GOP primary June 6.
Months before the primary, political observers were expecting a classic clash between the GOP's religious wing and business wing. But Riley, a Southern Baptist who talks openly about his faith, pulled away part of Moore's religious base.
Moore got hit with the "Pharisee effect," said pollster Larry Powell, referring to Jesus' rebuke of religious leaders called Pharisees who used public prayers to enhance their political image. Powell said many voters became tired of Moore constantly talking about religion and began to suspect he was using the issue for his own advancement.
Riley said he was helped by an administration free of any indictments, record low unemployment and an income tax cut for Alabama's low-income workers.
"Riley goes into the general election as a pretty strong favorite," said David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley defeated former Gov. Don Siegelman and six other candidates in the Democratic primary by a 3-2 margin. Siegelman was on trial, along with two former Cabinet members, on government corruption charges for five weeks leading up to the primary and didn't begin presenting his defense until after the primary election. Siegelman raised little money, and two predominantly black political groups that had traditionally endorsed him threw their support to Baxley.
Riley, 61, is trying to reverse a recent trend by Alabama voters, who have defeated incumbent governors in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He barely edged Siegelman in 2002 and took office when state government was facing its biggest budget deficit since the Depression. Then he angered many in his GOP base by proposing the biggest tax increase in state history, which voters rejected 2-to-1.
But Riley slowly rebuilt his standing as the economy rebounded, and he appeared authoritative and organized in response to Hurricane Katrina. "He recovered and showed himself a leader, particularly during Katrina," said Byrdie Larkin, a political scientist at Alabama State University.
Baxley, 68, is seeking to be the first woman elected governor of Alabama since Lurleen Wallace won in 1966 as a stand-in for her husband, George Wallace. She has name recognition partly because her ex-husband, Bill Baxley, was attorney general and lieutenant governor and made unsuccessful runs for governor in 1978 and 1986. They divorced after the 1986 race and she began her own political career, winning two terms as state treasurer, then getting elected lieutenant governor in 2002, each time covering the state with red bumper stickers proclaiming "We Love Lucy."Her offices, however, have been primarily procedural, rather than policy-making. In her current campaign, she has relied on her "We Love Lucy" theme again and has issued a short list of promises, including a tax credit for businesses that provide health insurance for their employees and tougher ethics laws to limit a lobbyist to spending $250 annually on entertaining a public official.
Political experts say she hasn't done enough to demonstrate how she would govern. "She is an empty suit with a nice smile," said Carl Grafton, a political scientist at Auburn University Montgomery.
Riley set the theme for the campaign when he arrived at his primary victory celebration aboard a train engine and declared, "Alabama is finally on the right track." Baxley says that track has warped rails and shaky crossties.
She said Alabama's schools still fall near the bottom in many national rankings, the state's prison commissioner is on the verge of being jailed for contempt of court because the state has not provided enough prison space, and Alabama still doesn't have enough state troopers patrolling the highways.
"He's spent a great amount of money telling people everything is wonderful," Baxley said. "But there is something less than honest about what he says."
Baxley has traditionally run campaigns that focus on her and her platform, but Jess Brown, a political scientist at Athens State University, said she will have to go negative in the general election if she wants to beat Riley.
"She's got to find an issue that will knock some of the shine off the governor," Brown said.
Loretta Nall, a 31-year-old marijuana advocate and president of the U.S. Marijuana Party, is running as a write-in candidate. She won the Libertarian Party's nomination for governor, but the party couldn't collect the 41,300 voter signatures necessary to get its ticket on the ballot.
U.S. House
Republicans hold a 5-2 lead in Alabama's House delegation. All delegation members were re-elected in 2004. The two Democrats have no Republican opposition this year, and the five Republicans have only nominal Democratic opposition. State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said the national party does not plan to get involved in any of the contested races.
Other State Races
The race for lieutenant governor could feature the two biggest family names in Alabama politics. Former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., the son of two-term Gov. James E. "Big Jim" Folsom, is the Democratic nominee and is attempting a comeback after 12 years out of politics.
George Wallace Jr., son of four-term Gov. George C. Wallace, is in a runoff July 18 with Luther Strange, a Birmingham lobbyist and lawyer who led the primary election.
Wallace, 54, currently serves on the state's utility regulatory board and is making his second run for lieutenant governor, having lost in 1994.
Strange, 53, is making his first race for public office, but he has worked in GOP campaigns for many years. Wallace's populist views have helped Strange build a long list of business endorsements and collect large donations from them.
Folsom, 56, was elected lieutenant governor in 1986 and 1990. He moved up to the governor's office in 1993, when Republican Gov. Guy Hunt was removed from office for violating the state ethics law. Folsom lost a race for governor in 1994 and had been out of politics until he signed up to run for lieutenant governor on the last day for candidates to qualify. Folsom said he chose the office, in part, because it is part-time and he can continue his career in investment banking.
Republican Attorney General Troy King, who was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley in 2004 when Bill Pryor resigned to become a federal judge, easily won the Republican primary over a former state appeals court judge who raised little money. King is opposed by Democrat John Tyson Jr., the district attorney for Mobile County. Tyson won the Democratic primary by only 12 percentage points over Larry Darby, the founder of the Atheist Law Center, who garnered national attention with his denial of the Holocaust and his association with white supremacists.
At the state Supreme Court, Alabama is in for another expensive year of court races because five of the nine seats are on the ballot and control of the court depends on the outcome.
Between 1993 and 2004, Supreme Court candidates in Alabama raised $41.1 million _ more than any other state. Texas was second at $27.5 million, according to Justice at Stake, a Washington-based group that monitors spending in judicial races.
All five seats up for election are currently held by Republicans. One justice is retiring, but four incumbents, all backed by business groups, are seeking new terms. They survived Republican primary challenges by candidates aligned with Judge Roy Moore. One of the four incumbents, Champ Lyons, has no Democratic opposition in the general election.
Democrats currently hold only one seat on Alabama's appellate courts. The lone Democrat, Criminal Appeals Court Judge Sue Bell Cobb, is running for the chief justice's job against Republican incumbent Drayton Nabers. Nabers is Riley's former state finance director and helped design the 2003 tax plan that turned some Republicans against the GOP governor.
Cobb, who has 24 years of experience at the trial and appellate levels, has criticized Nabers for his lack of experience. She said Nabers has "not tried a single case in a single county."
Legislature
Democrats currently hold a 25-10 lead over Republicans in the Senate and a 62-43 lead over Republicans in the House. Republicans would need to pick up 10 seats in the House and eight in the Senate to gain their first majority since Reconstruction _ something the minority leaders in the House and Senate say is doubtful. But both are optimistic about gaining enough seats to put together working majorities with conservative Democrats who usually vote Republican.
When Republican legislative candidates qualified to run, the Alabama Republican Party required them to sign a first-of-its-kind pledge that they will support the legislative leadership recommended by the House and Senate Republican caucuses. House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard said that even if Republicans don't win a majority of the seats in the House, they will be able to influence the election of the leadership by voting as a bloc.
Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham actively recruited candidates and is optimistic his party will retain control of both houses. Democratic House Speaker Seth Hammett is seeking a third term as the presiding officer of the House. The Senate's top member, Democratic President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, has not said whether he will seek to be pro tem for a third term. Barron helped finance three candidates who ran in the Democratic primary against three incumbent Democratic senators who had not supported him. One of the three incumbents got beat.
The new Legislature will meet in January to elect its leadership.
-- Associated Press
