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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I agree that Love probably can’t beat Bright. However, I think he’ll do better than Smith could. I still believe that this Nov will be a very disappointing time for Repubs throughout the US. Bush has hurt the Party, as we’ve already seen in IL, MS, and LA. The majority of the generic polls show Obama will beat McCain. Some polls are showing Obama as high as +18. A recent national poll shows that voters disappproved of our present Congress, and that they disapproved of the Repub Congress more than they disapproved of the Dem Congress. Woe is me!
Comment by JRay — May 28, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
I don’t think Love will survive a runoff - too much baggage regardless of opponent. And he hasn’t even been hit with any of it yet.
Comment by Anonymous — May 28, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
Love 57 - Bright 43
I would be willing to bet that the winner no matter Bright or his Republican opponent will win by less than 2%.
Comment by TH - HAHA — May 28, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
MH I know you are not marjorie harris, I know who you are and we have met before…think about it for a second.
Comment by Earning their money — May 28, 2008 @ 11:36 am
I knew Pee Wee Herman. Pee Wee Herman is a friend of mine. Craig Schmidtke, YOU ARE NO . . .well . . .actually you ARE a Pee Wee Herman . . .never mind . . . .
Comment by Cowboy Curtis — May 28, 2008 @ 10:28 am
Annonymous–
Hilarious!! Craig “Revenge of the Nerds” Schmidtke!!
You have obviously never met him or spoken to him in person, else you would know him otherwise as an intelligent gentleman, scholar, respected physician, and all out great person. Ignorance is bliss, and seeing as how you lack the imagination to make up a name for yourself, you should call yourself just that, Bliss.
I have never seen a person or group of people who feel so threatened in my life! You, and those like you, have been in your shells so long that you still fear reality and change, or input from someone unlike yourselves. The true fact of the matter is that you would rather elect someone like yourself. Someone who thinks inside of the box instead of for himself and his district, and who will make no strides to improve the district, over someone who thinks a little differently than you, but could bring about the change needed to not only strengthen the district, but move it in the direction needed to grow and prosper. The “sheep” mentality usually leads to people walking around in circles. You would rather have them running around in circles instead of led in the right direction.
Comment by little ole me — May 28, 2008 @ 9:57 am
As the election day gets close people are getting almost mean on here. Why can’t you state your opinions about who you plan to vote for rather than being so hateful of others? I will vote for Harri Anne Smith on Tuesday. I think she is the best person for the job. I respect those of you who are supporting others but you should do so without degrading any of the other candidates. They all have friends and family who support them. Out of six Republicans only one can win. I will vote for that pperson in November against Bobby Bright no matter which one of the six it is.
Comment by Concerned Citizen — May 28, 2008 @ 9:43 am
MH–
Make no mistake about it, I AM! a good old boy from Central Alabama. Harri Ann has been trying to make an attemt to be “one of us” for the whole district, and she has failed miserably. Anyone who has the sense to pour water out of a boot, can see right through her act, and to be quite honest, the consensus from those I know is that they are sick of her. SICK! She flutters and flops like a fish out of water, and as I mentioned before, would be poor representation for the district. I want a representative that answers to and represents the district, not his special interests groups, PACS, or the people who gave him the money to get there. Harri Ann is a brown noser and welcher.
And, I wasn’t making a suggestion that the good old boys were either good, bad, or indifferent. Like I said, I am as much of a good old boy as the next guy. I was simply stating that her “act” of trying to fit in with them is pathetic. I don’t think she has fooled as many as she thinks. (with the exception of you)
Comment by torn in Ozark — May 28, 2008 @ 9:36 am
I saw Schmidtke’s ad where he said “let’s send a respected statesman to Washington!” Hey, Craig (Revenge of the Nerds) Schmidtke, I am all for that, but if you want to send a respected statesman to Washington why the hell are YOU running?
Comment by Anonymous — May 28, 2008 @ 9:20 am
I do know that MH is not Marjorie Harris. Comments containing demonstrably false information may be deleted.
Also… ‘Frederick’ sent me email from an aol account but my reply bounced back to me saying “Mailbox Not Found.” I tried.
Comment by Danny — May 28, 2008 @ 9:07 am
Earning their money, I’ve got the right numbers listed below. I’ll even give you the July 15th numbers and the Nov. 4th, general election numbers!
June 3.
Love - 29% (47,850)
Smith - 22% (36,300)
Woods - 19% (31,350)
Schmidtke - 14% (23,100)
Grimes - 9% (14,850)
Martin - 7% (11,550)
July 15.
Love - 54% (81,000)
Smith - 46% (69,000)
Nov 4.
Love - 57% (153,900)
Bright - 43% (116,100)
Comment by TH — May 28, 2008 @ 8:57 am
Danny has already ascertained that I am not Marjorie Harris…please desist in spreading tht rumor.
As for the Good Old Boys, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Look at the district map! When you sling insults at Good Old Boys, you are insulting a major portion of the constituency and not doing your own fair haired child any favors.
I’m not making any predictions on the outcome…just saying my prayers and calling everyone I know to make sure they remember to get out and VOTE!!!!!
Comment by MH — May 28, 2008 @ 8:43 am
Hey Marjorie… I mean MH. What is your prediction on how the race turns out? Hey why not open it up to everyone, lets hear your projected finish. I’ll start
Smith 35%
Love 28%
Woods 16%
Schmidtke 11%
Grimes 8%
Martin 2%
Comment by Earning their money — May 28, 2008 @ 8:23 am
Torn, I could not have said it better myself! You hit the nail on the head! Thank you for reinforcing what I have said on this site before about that bumbling nut!
Comment by Anonymous — May 28, 2008 @ 8:10 am
Seems Smith is throwing the kitchen sink in with this race. And now she is seeking the backing of the Country Crossings folks? Does anyone see the writing on the wall here? A month ago she was making her own little “stand in the schoolhouse door” when she so adamantly declared that she was introducing legislation to ban the electronic bingo in Houston County. Now she is seeking the help of those same people that she opposed? Is this a sign of the way she will perform her duties if she is elected to Congress? I don’t think she knows where she stands, or what she stands for. It seems like she is treading water, hoping that the current will just pull her along. She’s completely incompetent, and someone needs to out her for all of the mistakes she has made in her campaign. But, it seems that noone in the media has the stones to question her about her “less that consciencious” misallocation of funds, her habit of leaving forums early or simply not attending them, and blatant disrespect for the military in campaigning behind her husbands military uniform and dishonoring the meaning of it. I have to change the TV channel when her commercials come on because her voice makes my skin crawl, and I am sick of the “good old boy, little old me” act that she uses in all of her commercials. “I hayyyyyt taxes” and “a tomato slice on everybody’s plate”? How about not having to see you on TV anymore, and you stick to local politics? It would be embarassing and disgraceful to be represented by her in Washington. I would just as soon send the guy that always seems to live in the trailer park that is hit by a tornado, and shows up to be interviewed by CNN in a tank top with a Miller Highlife in his hand. The result would be about the same.
Comment by torn in Ozark — May 28, 2008 @ 7:53 am
1061 - Are you sure it wasn’t Ronald Reagan? Acording to a mailing I received, he is a Ronald Reagan Republican. You know, Schmidtke is a great orator, very calm, very organized thought process and a smooth delivery, but he just can’t seem to “touch” the working voter. I really think he may become a genuine politician given time and practice.
Comment by JRay — May 27, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
02 Voter - If he can afford a $100K electric sports car, what’s a few bucks to run for Congress? I can’t figure out why he would invest so much money in a no win campaign. Maybe getting his name out for a future run? I guess we’ll see.
Comment by JRay — May 27, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
what happened to the person on here that kept mentioning pictures of smith, etc that were damaging as it relates to gambling? i figured they were bluffing. but it is true that smith, since dropping her senate bill on the gambling issue, now has the financial support of ronnie gilley, the cross country developer. what a shock
Comment by Anonymous — May 27, 2008 @ 10:21 pm
Speaking of the FEC website…anybody else notice the amount of PAC money each of the candidates have recieved to date?
Comment by MH — May 27, 2008 @ 9:26 pm
Rumor has it that Schmitdke’s wife is worth $10M. Considering the amount of self financing he is doing, she must want to move to Washington really bad. Guess LA doesn’t suit her….
I saw this medallion coin thing he is handing out. It is about the size of a silver dollar and appears to be made of brass or some similar metal. On one side the medallion has what looks like a bas relief image of Elton John when the singer/pianist was about 40 or so…couldn’t figure out why Dr. Schmitdke would be putting Elton John’s image on a campaign ‘gimme’…then it dawned on me that it was a supposed to be his own image. Other than the odd image, it is a clever sort of campaign gimmick. I’m sure it wasn’t cheap to have them made up.
Comment by MH — May 27, 2008 @ 9:25 pm