See also the AL - 05 Big List.
Welcome to the AL - 02 Big List.
This list has been an attempt to keep up with everyone in either political party who has been credibly mentioned (in public or private) as a potential candidate for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District since Rep. Terry Everett (R - Rehobeth) announced that he will not run for re-election.
Both parties’ qualifying period ended April 4, 2008. Three Democrats and six Republicans qualified for the primary race, and they are listed below. The primary is June 3.
The Political Parlor will update the Alabama Line (found in the sidebar) for the race, though perhaps not as fast as you like since input from a wide array of people is sought.
| Democrats |
Republicans |
IN
Bobby Bright, Montgomery Mayor
Cendie Crawley, Dentist, Troy native
Cheryl Sabel, Alabama NOW President
OUT
William Boyd, Montgomery Mayoral Candidate
Seth Hammett, Speaker of the House
Jimmy Holley, State Senator
Jimmy Lunsford, Troy Mayor
Gary McAliley, Pike/Coffee Co. DA
Wendell Mitchell, State Senator
Scott Ninesling
James Perdue, Crenshaw Co Probate Judge
Cooper Rutland, Union Springs Atty
Ron Sparks, Agricultural Commissioner
Terry Spicer, State Representative
Glen Zorn, former Florala Mayor
|
IN
David Grimes, State Representative
Jay Love, State Representative
John W. Martin, Retired Army (Dothan)
Craig Schmidtke, Dothan oral surgeon
Harri Anne Smith, State Senator
David Woods, President, WCOV-TV (Montgomery)
OUT
Greg Albritton, former state Representative
Wes Allen, former candidate for Auditor
Kenneth Boswell, Enterprise Mayor
Bobby Bright, Montgomery Mayor
Terry Butts, former Supreme Court Justice
Jim Byard, Prattville Mayor
Steve Clouse, State Representative
Mark Culver, Houston County Commissioner
Larry Dixon, State Senator
John Giles, former Christian Coalition of AL President
Jack Hawkins, Troy Univ. Chancellor
Jimmy Holley, State Senator
Tim James, Greenville businessman
Troy King, Attorney General
Ben Lewis, State Representative
Barry Mask, State Representative
Charles Nailen, Dothan businessman
Steve Pelham, former Everett staffer
Jim Sullivan, PSC President
George Wallace, Jr., former PSC Commissioner
Dot Waller, Autauga County Bd. of Ed.
Greg Wren, State Representative
|
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OK, so when bloggers insinuate that Smith is a puppet of Dothan Business, private contributers, her consultant, the Tooth Fairy and Elvis; it isn’t a consipracy theory….but when I point out that the Montgomery based TV station is only airing the debate that is being held in Montgomery….even though they are co-sponsoring the event….it’s a conspiracy theory? Gotcha! I understand now…we have two sets of rules on this discussion board: One for Smith, and one for the other candidates.
BTW, since everyone is always throwing up Smith’s consultant in my face, does that mean that the other professional politicans don’t have consultants? I can’t believe that Jay Love and Bobby Bright don’t have consultants…
Comment by MH — April 18, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Scorecard this week:
Gambling bosses 2 (Harri Anne and David Grimes)
Christian values 1 (Jay Love)
Comment by Annonymous — April 18, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
wow…that is a trainwreck.
Comment by PikeCountyguy — April 18, 2008 @ 11:57 am
http://www.mydothan.com/Bingo/041408HASbingoBillStopped.wmv
click on this link.
’nuff said as to why she will not participate in the one debate that is specifically for TV.
Comment by SmithScared... — April 18, 2008 @ 10:59 am
So now WSFA is biased and in on the conspiracy!!!!
Comment by BBB — April 18, 2008 @ 10:54 am
B3,
If you don’t think it is odd that a TV station that is co-sponsoring an event “can’t cover it”, you really are blind in your intentions to smear Smith at all costs…. Then again, I guess it is understandable that a TV station in Montgomery would want a candidate from Montgomery to win the race.
Comment by MH — April 18, 2008 @ 10:44 am
If readers spend 3 minutes viewing the press conference Harri Anne Snith held on Monday, they will understand why she is refusing to attend debates.
Comment by SmithScared — April 18, 2008 @ 10:41 am
MH, your defense of your precious Harri Anne is getting laughable!!!!
Comment by BBB — April 18, 2008 @ 10:32 am
I just got off the phone with WFSA. According to the News Department, the debate on the 21st, which will be in Troy, will be broadcast via the web. The gentleman I spoke with said that WFSA will be covering all three debates in one form or another. However, they do not have a crew available for the third debate, which is being being held in Dothan. If you guys want to beat someone up over Smith not being on TV, your beef should be with the TV station, not with Smith; after all, they are co-sponsoring the events.
Comment by MH — April 18, 2008 @ 10:21 am
JRay,
You are absolutely correct is your observation. The Candidates were kept in an ante room and brought in one at a time to be asked only two questions of which they were not pre-briefed. It was almost humorous to watch the Candidates quickly search for answers to the questions in 90 seconds. Woods looked as if he was reading from his notes. Schmidtke wanted to make it clear that he has an opinion. Love, and groupies made some noise, Martin mentioned he supports the FairTax and is a Veteran, Bobby tried to be smooth and Sabel appeared to be glad she was there. I thought it was too structured to get a clear indication of the Candidates. I hope we see better of them tonight.
Comment by LB-22 — April 18, 2008 @ 9:25 am
The Dothan Eagle today:
Candidates for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District seat will gather tonight for a live television debate, with one notable absence.
State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said she will not be attending tonight’s debate due to a previously scheduled event. Tonight’s debate will be broadcast live from the studios of WSFA TV in Montgomery. It is the first of three debates sponsored by WSFA, the American Association of Retired Persons, the National Federation of Independent Business and Troy University. The next will be held Monday at Troy University and the final debate is set for April 29 at Troy-Dothan’s Sony Hall.
A spokesman for Smith declined to say what event she is attending tonight.
“Let me just say it’s along strategic lines and I’m not at liberty to talk about strategy,” spokesman Jack Campbell said Thursday. “It’s something we couldn’t reschedule, couldn’t move around.”
THIS IS THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF BULL (HER CONSULTANT) I HAVE HEARD IN A LONG, LONG TIME. PUT YOUR BOOTS ON AND GET YOUR SHOVEL FOLKS. AND IF SMITH IS ELECTED, GET USED TO THIS SORT OF THING. NOTICE OF THE DEBATE WHEN TO THE CANDIDATES TWO MONTHS AGO. SHE IS WORRIED ABOUT PARTICIPATING IN THE ONLY DEBATE THAT IS BROADCAST ON TV. DO WE REALLY NEED A REPRESENTATIVE IN WASHINGTON THAT WILL SIT AT HOME AND CLAIM IT IS A GOOD STRATEGY?
http://www.dothaneagle.com/gulfcoasteast/dea/local_news.apx.-content-articles-DEA-2008-04-17-0011.html
Comment by Rickey — April 18, 2008 @ 8:44 am
LB22, I went to the candidate forum last night. I was a little dissapointed in the small turnout from our local electorate. It was the first time I had the opportunity to listen to several of the state-wide candidates. None of them were especially eloquent speakers, but they did OK. Schmidtke used “in my opinion” far too many times, and Woods tried too hard to convince the audience that he was a Christian. Did you notice that Love brought his our “applause” group? All in all it was just OK. I hope the TV debate is more interesting.
Comment by JRay — April 18, 2008 @ 8:13 am
MH and all who defend Smith for not showing at the upcoming debate this evening, it is simply indefensible. This looks bad for Smith. This is a congressional debate not one of hundreds of neighborhood association meetings. The ONLY defense that is logical and practical is she is afraid of looking 1/10 as bad as she came across in that recent press conference. MH, you got way too much sugar in that Jim Jones/Harri Anne kool-aid you are drinking.
Comment by Seriously — April 18, 2008 @ 7:41 am
You’re way off base MH. The debate issue looks bad for Smith. She looks like she is worried about her performance in such. No one likes that.
Comment by BBB — April 18, 2008 @ 7:11 am
JRay,
As far as I know, Martin and Sabel are still “in” and campaigning. They were seen in Wetumpka at the Elmore County Candidate Forum Thursday evening. The only two missing (again) were Grimes and Smith.
Comment by LB-22 — April 17, 2008 @ 11:13 pm
Who works Friday nights? Hmmm…. let me see….medical personnel who work in hosptials (including trauma surgeons, ER docs, nurses, anesthesiolgists, obstetricians, x-ray techs, lab techs, etc.); restaraunt owners and workers; retail owners and employeees; gas station employees; policemen; firemen; paramedics; factory workers on swing shift; people who work in nightclubs; military personnel; nursing home employees; college professors who teach night classes….in short probably as many people, or more, as work 9-5 jobs.
Comment by MH — April 17, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
All Smith has done is paid a bunch oh high priced consultants. She has $130,000 cash on hand which is probably actually $100,000 now considering she pays consultants $20,000+ per month. And what have those consultants advised her to do.
1. Use $20,000 of her state campaign account in a federal election. A violation of federal campaign finance law.
2. Wait 3 months to file her statement of candidacy forms after she raised or spent $5000 when the law requires that you do it after 15 days. Another violation of campaign finance law.
3. Misses a crucial vote on pac to pac transfer bill because she was to busy going to her fundraiser.
4. Introduces a local bill to repeal electronic bingo and says it is her moral duty to allow the citizens of Houston county to vote on this significant issue.
5. 10 days later pulls the bill (in one of the more embarrassing press conf. you will ever see) because she wants the economic development. Leaving Rep. Benjamin Lewis and the Christian conservative groups high and dry.
6. Skips out on the one and only televised debate because she couldn’t clear her schedule 2 months in advance.
Please lets elect this woman to Congress. She will fit in perfectly with that crowd.
Comment by db — April 17, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
She’s lost yours . . .but she has those of a lot of the kingmakers . . . .
It would appear that Smith has raised more money than all other candidates COMBINED . . .so all the postings about her “withdrawing” seem really silly now . . .
And this is not an endorsement of her or her cndidacy . . .this is a post about political reality. With all that money committed, she is in this to the end, and she will be a player.
Comment by Anonymous — April 17, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Smith has lost my vote.
Comment by CovingtonJay — April 17, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
can’t view due to work schedules??????? It is friday night. And no, i don;t believe the others are televised. that is smith’s whole point…to avoid being seen by a large audience. she rather debate when there is no TV.
Comment by BBB — April 17, 2008 @ 4:19 pm