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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W3,
You have a wicked sense of humor. Unfortunately, too many people have none.
Comment by MH — April 21, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
Ok so I have been checking around the betting sites and have been unable to find odds on todays debate, so I took the liberty to make them up. I quit watching the democrat debate on Friday, so I am unable to make set the odds for that debate.
Total bets
John Martin refers to himself as a veteran-12 times
Over- 2/5
Under- 3/2
John Martin refers to himself as a farmer- 8 times
Over- 1/3
Under- 2/3
John Martin refers to himself as a veteran and farmer- 22 times
Over- 1/10
Under- 9/1
David Woods stutters/stammers/says um- 29 times
Over- 1/20
Under- 25/1
Jay Love mentions that he is a Christian- 5 times
Over- 1/7
Under- 3/2
David Grimes gives an excuse for why he is not performing well- 3 times
Over- Even
Under- 4/1
People that take offense to this post- 3
Over Even
Under Even
One Democratic Line
Bobby Bright claims credit for something that happened in Montgomery, although he was only a small time bit player -2 times
Over- 1/3
Under- 2/1
Other Bets
Craig Schmidtke squints before all statements/answers
1/50
Harri Anne Smith shows up
2/1
Jay Love sports his horrible combover haircut
1/100
After the debate John Martin gets on here to defend his poor performance
1/1000
Craig Schmidtke wears that awful pinstriped suit with his slicked back hair (for such a successful business he claimed to run, he has to own a different suit)
1/10
Comment by William Wyatt Wallace — April 21, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
If folks aren’t giving to Griimes because he lacks support, that means Love, Schmidtke, Bright and Woods have no support either as they are all raising penauts in actual contributions. By your reasoning only Harri Anne has any real support.
Grimes is a nice guy though - maybe the only real nice guy running. There is certainly one real jerk in it.
Comment by For BBB — April 21, 2008 @ 9:15 am
DB I didn’t make an excuse for anyone. I made no statement in support of any candidate. I just said that Smith skipping the debate looked smarter than I thought it would - I had maintained all along that she should debate. You seem to want to twist every comment on here to your own purpose.
Comment by Good grief — April 21, 2008 @ 8:52 am
That comment by grimes citing fed election/campaign laws as a reason he can’t raise money was not only weird but false. Every candidate must follow the same rules…and others are raising money. Folks aren’t giving to Grimes because he lacks support.
Nice guy but not a chance…
Comment by BBB — April 20, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
I am impressed with Mr. Martin’s response, he did not once mention that he was a veteran.
Comment by Anonymous — April 20, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
What is Grimes thinking? He comes into the debate unprepared and then admits he can’t raise any money. Thats fine if you are someone like John Martin but if your are a sitting state legislator it makes you look terribly weak. I imagine there will be several people looking at his peformance in the Primary.
Comment by Annonymous — April 20, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
OK, for all you “armchair political pundits”, here’s the skinny.
Once everyone arrived and settled in we were all briefed on the procedures and rules. We were then led downstairs to the studio and given our seating assignments, which camera to look at, and once again the rules.
The bank of high intensity lights made the studio hot. There was little ventilation. We had to get “miked up”. Then a sound check. At two minutes before show time we were told we could make some notes on the paper provided for us. We still had no idea of the questions that would be asked, so why make notes?
Show time. Here’s the question, you have 60 seconds to formulate and express your opinion that will be clearly understood. Every question could have been a five minute answer. Had we known the questions a day in advance, we could have formed a 60 second answer that we could have delivered better with the individual nuance of the person delivering it. But that wasn’t the case. It was a pop quiz at random.
Bob looks good because he’s a professional and does it everyday. He is in his element. We were not. We were taken back to the reception room for the debrief afterwards and we all agreed we could have done better with prior notice. There were some jokes and kidding passed around and we all felt better having got that gig out of the way. The next one gets easier.
So, unless you’ve talked to the candidates personally, what you saw on WSFA was a no notice, competitive pop quiz in an unusual environment. Not the normal person, not the normal charm.
JWM
Comment by Kahuna — April 19, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
I agree db, take a look at smith’s press event if you want to judge what a mess she would have made in a debate. and at the press event, she actually had a statement to read and couldn’t handle it! The debate was less than impressive though. Love did well I thought. He sounded like he had a bit of sense compared to some others…
Comment by Jboner — April 19, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
“Good grief”, how come you could not come up with a better excuse than “Strategy”. I guess the only television appearance the voters will have to judge Harri Anne on is that impressive performance at the press conference last week. I mean even Woods was better than that.
Comment by db — April 19, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
Well . . .I have always maintained it was a mistake for Harri Anne to skip that debate . . .until seeing it.
What an incredible stageful of befuddled losers. It is difficult to tell who botttom-fed the worst, but “Geeks and Freaks” Schmidteke and “Stuttering John” Woods are my top two , with “Deer-in-Headlights Combover” Jay Love neck and neck . . .
Smith’s decision looks pretty good to me now - it’s better to keep your mougth shut and be thought a coward than to open it and prove that you are an idiot. And that was an idiot convention on WSFA.
Comment by Good grief — April 19, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Bright shifts his eyes too much, looks suspicious.
Comment by William Wyatt Wallace — April 18, 2008 @ 7:45 pm
Wow - the NOW prez just lost the race with her opening statement. what a liberal nut job
Comment by Jboner — April 18, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
I can’t believe Harri Anne is such a wuss. That debate was nothing - they just posed 3 easy, typical questions with no debate between the candidates. But then again - just watch her press conference - she couldn’t even handle that. Love sounded good tonight, Schmidtke sounded rather bright, martin did fine at times, grimes…why is he running?, and woods seemed a little uncomfortable and read from his notes way too much. and Harri Anne - a wuss.
Comment by Jboner — April 18, 2008 @ 7:38 pm
David “Stuttering Stanley” Woods
Comment by William Wyatt Wallace — April 18, 2008 @ 7:11 pm
Haha this is great, opening statements are impressive.
Martin’s a veteran.
Jay Love is out-christian everyone.
Woods has no clue how to speak in public.
Schmidtke has his face all crinkled up like he is in pain “Draw a line in the stand” haha.
Grimes sounds extremely uncomfortable.
Smith……….
Comment by William Wyatt Wallace — April 18, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
Didn’t Campbell run Peggy Givan’s last race? Didn’t Ms Givan lose? Looks to me like Smith is headed down the same road.
Comment by JRay — April 18, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
MH, guess what? Looks like the Houston County development issue is not yet past Harri Anne. SB 191 that is lingering in the Senate would potentially do harm to the project. Smith has stated she is opposed to the bill and voted no on a substitute bill offered on Thursday. There are rumors brewing that the senate republicans may be ready to cut a deal with the senate democrats who support the measure. The repubs would give up some votes to support the measure in exchange for some additional committee assignments and some other nice offerings. If Harri Anne in anyway supports SB 191 she will again be sticking it to the supporters of the Houston County project. Surely, she won’t make that mistake. Now that I ask that question I never thought she would have made the mistake of doing such a poor press conference. Guess anything is possible with Smith at this point.
Comment by B. I. N. G. O. BINGO — April 18, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
You seem to be fighting a losing battle MH. It is hard to defnd a no show but don’t blame WSFA for Smith choosing to miss the only debate that is being televised when she had 2 months notice of it. That is her best opportunity to show the voters what she is about and how she feels on issues. She is choosing to duck it. She has ducked other such forums as well saying she is “previously committed” which means she is free but flat out doesn’t want to do it.
Comment by SmithScared... — April 18, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
Poor MH.
Comment by Annonymous — April 18, 2008 @ 1:36 pm