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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David Woods has never raised taxes, he is not a politician and never has been a politician. Senator Smith has raised taxes many times. Cellular phone taxes and property taxes. David Woods is the one candidate in this race who has never held office.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
MH, I can assure you, that with my own eyes, I have seen Smith campaign workers taking down Love’s BIG signs in Dothan before dawn on Monday and Tuesday of this week. These signs were placed in both private property areas and In areas well off of the right-a-way where, Schmitke, Smith, Seagle, Mendeim, etc. signs were placed. — Blatent destruction of private property!
Also, we all know how “wishy washy” Harri Anne is on every issue. She has NO CONVICTIONS WHATSOEVER! She is also famous for “switching positions” often. In fact, She is really a democrat running as a republican. Did you realize that she was Democratic Party Chairman in Geneva County in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Thats right! Check and find out! But don’t ask here if you can find her. She will probably tell you that she has to go to Montgomery for an important vote and does not have time to answer that important question.
She is a complete hipocrite! I would not vote for here for dog catcher!
Comment by TH — May 15, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
I think it is likely that all three of them are rather close. We are all guessing and putting spin on it though. Some folks post here as if it is fact, when it is not.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
MH - I can tell you that Love is losing some ground, Woods is moving fsat, and I think Smith will be in the runoff wheter she is first or second overall. It is very close all around, but Smith seems most sure of making the runoff. The real contest is between Love and Woods for Montgomery voters.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
I see Love’s toadies are slinging mud at Smith again…always with vague allusions and never taking credit. At least when I post something, you guys know that I am coming from a pro-Smith angle…rather than pretending to be undecided and posting trash about other candidates.
Let me clear something up…Smith’s signs have also been removed. It is illegal to post signs on the right of way. The right of way, also known as the set back, depending on your location can be a couple of feet, to several feet. Right of way/set back must remain clear in most cities and counties. It is also illegal to post signs in medians and on telephone poles. Schmidke’s signs were in amost every median between Dothan and Montgomery, as well as inside Dothan city limits, and along N. 431 from Dothan to Abbeville. These were removed by the authorities. Not only were they illegal, but they interfered with the ability of the municiplaities to mow, etc., and created extra work for the public works department (and, therefor, costing us taxpayers money to have municipal employees removing hundreds of signs on the clock, when they should have been mwoing or picking up trash and debris!)
Finally, if anyone bothered to notice, one of the TV stations in the area ran a story on illegally placed signs and they showed all the political signs that had been removed, and asked the candidates to come pick up their signs. Smith’s signs were very visible in the news spot…so anybody who accuses Smith’s supporters of stealing signs and replacing them with hers, etc, is just blowing so much hot air.
And, BTW, a lot of people have told me that their Smith signs have disappeared from inside their yards…far from the set back/right of way…these signs were stolen…and some people have reported these thefts to the police and were told that if they catch the thieves doig it again, that the thieves can be prosecuted and fined.
Stop accusing Smith of every underhanded trick in the book. Smith doesn’t play by Jay Love’s rule book. If you want to point fingers about dirty dealings, point them at Jay Love.
Now, as far as poll numbers go, I heard that Smith was in the number 1 slot, with Woods and Love duking it out for second…and Schmidke pulling up a distant fourth…but I have no idea how fresh those numbers are. Since I don’t get out much due to my disability, sometimes my info is a little dated…but I suspect the numbers are good since Love is trashing Woods in the poll that Love is running.
Comment by MH — May 15, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
Any movement will be between Woods and Love voters - they share the same base. Smith will be in the runoff and the top two in any poll so long as she leads in the Wiregrass.
Smith will be in the runoff, though her position would not be as strong if there were a more viable alternative than Schmidtke from Dothan. Either Woods or Love will be in the runoff - not both.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
It isn’t Love leading. Smith is in the top two. Love is right now trailing. Woods is moving up fast, Smith steady, Love fading.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
Does anyone out there have knowledge of any polling results in the last week. The last poll I saw is 7 to ten days old.
Is it Love, Woods, Smith in that order, or are you guys seeing different results?
Comment by GBOY — May 15, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
He has been running those forever and to tell you the truth I believe I see them less since he is running.
And before you blow up about me being a Woods defender, I refuse to vote for him.
Comment by FOX20 — May 15, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
In reference to the Woods “thank you” spots: He has run them for years for watching American Idol, Nascar, baseball, etc. …. nothing new there.
Comment by tina louise — May 15, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
#887 Regarding Woods “Thank You for Watching” spots. He started those spots just before he announced he was running. In those spots, he never mentions he’s a candidate, so I’m sure they are “legal”, but he is certainly getting some extra “free” face time.
Comment by JRay — May 15, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
The Mac Daddy of dirty campaigning in Alabama is Joe Perkins. Only one candidate in this race has ever employed Joe Perkins: Jay Love.
Mark this down: Jay Love will go dirty in this race, if he has not already done so. Very very dirty.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
Smith supporters are good ole boys and there is plenty of that in CD 2. I don’t doubt they pull down other folks signs.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 11:58 am
Oh, by the way. Did anyone else know that there was a forum in Redland, in Elmore County last weekend?
In case you didn’t let me tell you a little something. First of all, neither Jay Love, nor Harri Ann were in attendance. Secondly, WAKA was there holding interviews for the candidates, and low and behold on the news that night, they showed Bobby Bright speaking, as if he had attended the event. I know for a fact he was not there, because I went to the forum. Why in the world would WAKA air that and make it appear that Bright was actually in attendance, if they didn’t have some motive to do so up their sleeves??
Also, has anyone pointed out there there have been quite a few David Woods spots on FOX, where he says “I’m David Woods. Thank you for watching FOX-WCOV” I wonder if he is paying for those or if they are a “free ride” from being the owner. If it is a free ride, then I think the candidates should demand the same face time.
Comment by little ole me — May 15, 2008 @ 11:56 am
response to #885
Not only are Jay Love signs missing, but also a bunch of Craig Schmidtke signs. I attended a forum in Montgomery Tuesday night, and asked several poeple about the signs missing, and they all said, “well, you know the city will remove signs in the right of ways….”. Yeah right, but if the signs are on private property, then they should remain there unless the property owner decides to move them.
I guess they don’t realize that removing them from private property is theft of property. Just more rules broken by their campaign!!
And I am not speaking only of signs in Dothan. They are missing in Montgomery, Elmore, Butler, Crenshaw, Lowndes,and Autauga counties as well. I know for a fact that on of Schmidtke’s people saw someone remove Schmidtke signs from property, and replace them with HAS signs. It was in the Montgomery newspaper some weeks ago. Just typical LOW CLASS maneuvers by a sub par campaign group. For what it is worth, you would think her staff would be smart enough to know that people will figure out who is doing this, especially when a candidates signs disappear from a location, but one of hers “mysteriously” appears there at the same time.
Comment by little ole me — May 15, 2008 @ 11:49 am
Lots of Love 4′ x 8′ signs have gone missing on the west side of Dothan in the last few days. It is no doubt the Smith campaign showing us that “Slocomb Class.” The polls are showing that she will likely miss the run-0ff. How low can you get! Shame on you Ms. Smith!
Comment by GBOY — May 15, 2008 @ 11:34 am
If it’s a dirty poll, Jay Love is the culprit. he has done it before. Ask Bob McKee.
Comment by Anonymous — May 15, 2008 @ 9:19 am
What credible poll shows Woods and Love within the margin of error of each other? Possibly the Smith poll that was emailed about a couple of weeks ago? Smith has no credibility with polling and rumors I have heard are that Smith and Woods are close in numbers.
Comment by What Poll — May 15, 2008 @ 9:09 am
All I know is that a few days ago, a friend of mine who got polled stopped by Smith’s campaign headquarters to drop off a donation and was telling the guy that works there that he had been polled. He said that the guy seemed really surprised about the poll, and asked what company was doing the poll and said he would know from the name of the pollster who’s poll it was. Unfortunately, my friend didn’t catch who the pollster identified themselves as.
Seems to me if it was Smith’s poll, her people at campaign HQ would know about it and not be surprised, and ask who the pollster was.
That just leaves Love, since, as W3 pointed out, Love is the only one who is really threatened by Woods at this time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out…..
Comment by MH — May 15, 2008 @ 7:49 am
Why would Smith worry about woods right now? Polls are saying that Woods and Love are within the margin of error of each other. That would make Love the most likely person to be doing that. Trying to push poll doesn’t come off as a Christian Conservative value to me, tisk tisk Jay.
Comment by William Wyatt Wallace — May 15, 2008 @ 7:36 am