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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On the contrary, if you will go back and check, I said that I would not, under any circumstances support Nailen. If Smith does not run for this office, there is only one other candidate I would consider supporting, and it isn’t Nailen. And, no, I’m not going to mention his name on this blog because you guys would just start doing your darndest to discredit him the way you have been trying so despertely to discredit Smith.
No, I’m not a Socialist…far from it. Atlas Shrugged is second only to the Bible as the most influential book in my life (as it is for most of the intelligent, educated people of this country.) If you reread my ‘tirades’ and if you can draw a straight line, you will understand my opposition to Nailen: A man who is not above taking advantage of children and other people who are marginally employable, would not be above taking advantage of the ’sheeple’ in his district (were he to be elected).
It is beyond me how anyone can be blind to this. Go ahead and hitch your stars to his wagon, if you must…just don’t take the whole district (and specifically the Wiregrass area) down in flames with you/him.
And by the way, what is so socialistic about believing in an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work? What is so socialistic about treating employees fairly? Sorry, you can’t paint me with that brush, the paint doesn’t stick.
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 10:48 pm
MH’s over the top tirade against Charles Nailen is almost as absurd as her unrealistic adoration for Harri Anne Smith. I did notice that she had no comment about how she would feel once Harri Anne jumps on the Nailen for Congress train. I guess at that point MH will not talk about Harri Anne’s courage and judgement. I think MH must have had a bad taco last month ???
Comment by GOPer — October 24, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
MH, what in the hell are you talking about? You are all over the place. This appears to have become the MH I love Harri Anne Smith blog. As for Nailen, I’m not really a big fan but the stars are aligning to put him on the GOP forefront. Smith will go back to her senate office in Montgomery and sleep each day until she is told to come to the senate floor and cast a vote for something that others have worked months for and she will in turn take credit for spearheading. As for which payroll I am on? Mine and Mrs. Wilson. MH you need to focus dear! You are like a proud parent who whips out
a picture of their newborn which the parent thinks is absolutely beautiful. All along the onlooker is thinking this “Harri Anne” baby has to be the ugliest I have ever seen.
As for all the Nailen mud you are slingling which seems pretty groundless you might want to be careful before you start throwing stones. Those same stones may come around and catch your candidate square in the back of her head. Do you really know all you need to about Harri Anne? By the way you seem to be a socialist.
Comment by Pookie Wilson — October 24, 2007 @ 8:38 pm
What is the word on Tim James for AL District 2?
Comment by WiregrassVoter — October 24, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
I don’t know what you mean by that comment, GOPer. Yes, I stated facts. As for ‘reading people’, any psychologist or psychiatrist worth their salt knows that people are who they are…if they behave one way in a given circumstance, they will respond the same way under similar circumstances. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the correlation.
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
Both sides of your mouth MH. You say you are not slinging mud, that you are stating facts, and then you saw you are “reading people” Interesting…
Comment by GOPer — October 24, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
Wow, someone has a grudge.
Comment by JT — October 24, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
I asked folks not to sling mud. Making a factual comment about how a person conducts his business is not slinging mud. And the way he cares for the welfare of his employees shows how much (or little) he cares for the under served population of the area he would represent. He speaks directly to his credibiity as running on a platform of being ‘one of the people’. If you cannot see this, you do not have a solid grasp of how to read people. Just because a business provides jobs, doesn’t make them a good employer. I’m sure most of us have worked for employers who were less than ideal, and an employer who doesn’t care for the well being of his employees can not only make those people’s lives miserable, it can have devastating consequences…everything from financial difficulties that follow them for years, to emotional problems. You rarely see an empoloyee go postal when the employer treats the employees equitably.
I am not against small businesses, as a management consultant many of my clients have been small businesses, and I guess you could say that I was also a small business. However, the one thing I always counceled my clients on was to treat employees fairly and provide them with a living wage and at least minimal healthcare benefits. With the small fortune the man has amassed, it seems to me he could have done that, rather than living the sweet life on the backs of those who are unable to get better employement.
As far as WalMart is concerned, I personally do not like them and rarely shop there, but it has nothing to do with their employment habits and a lot to do with their lack of customer service (another major bugaboo of mine.) It is interesting that you compare Nailen with a major employer who is on the hot seat for the exact thing that you are defending him for…especially since that corporation holds a much better record for paying employees above minimum wage and providing at least some of their employees with benefits. Also, Walmart is trying to improve their standing in those areas, while Nailen just keeps raking in the dough.
Yes, Nailen hires students. One high school student I know perosnally was made to work long hours on school nights (sometimes as late as 4 AM on a school night), and when the student complained was told that because he was 18, the child labor laws did not apply to him. This was not true, the child labor laws apply to all high school students, regardless of being 18 years of age. They also did not allow the student to take time off for work in order to take SAT prep classes and worked him into the wee hours the night before/morning of, the SAT exam. Taco Bell in general has been in trouble several times for violations of child labor laws, and it would seem that our local Taco Bell owner took a page from the corporate play book.
If you find my postings ‘tired’ then I suggest that you not read them. Personally, what I find tiring is that no matter what accomplishments I point out concerning Senator Smith, somebody on here always attacks it and refuses to see that she has done anything good. Obviously it wouldn’t matter what she did, you guys would deny it. If she walked on water, you would say that there was a low tide and anyone could have done it, or that she was only given credit for it because she is an incumbent politician. Talk about being closed minded and wearing blinders!
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
MH, how are you going to feel about Harri Anne when she throws her support behind Charles Nailen for Congress? Are you still going to think her judgement and overal decision making are excellent? Something for you to think about.
Comment by JT — October 24, 2007 @ 10:30 am
Why are you such a hater MH? Have you ever thought that fast food businesses do actually serve a purpose? They provide a lot of jobs - mainly part time to those that want extra money. I doubt if you work at Subway, McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. that you expect to make much over minimum wage or to get health insurance and a generous 401(k). It is not a career for the employees that work there. Often they are students, retirees, etc making extra money, or those that just work part time. Specific to Charles Nailen, in addition to creating hundreds of jobs, I am certain his stores pump thousands of dollars anuualy, via sales tax, in to the communities they serve. I have no idea what benefits, pay, etc. that Mr. Nailen gives to employees, but he does give them one thing…a JOB. I assume you hate Walmart too and think they abuse employees. Down with Capitalism! Small business owners are evil! No more McDonalds! It is slave labor! Vote Harri Anne, she will save us from the wizard!
Comment by Copper of Ozark — October 24, 2007 @ 9:37 am
MH, you would have said all the same things about Representative Everett (i.e. that he couldn’t win). Did you ever think that voters want someone other than professional politicians running for certain posts? You are a lost cause and once again have resorted to personal attacks on certain candidates when just a few days ago you were complaining that talk of that nature should stop. As someone said not long ago, your posts are tired.
And just fyi, of course Mayor Thomas would thank the elected officials from the area at an economic development announcement. He would have thanked a dog if they held the office - it doesn’t mean they did any real work to help. Oh wait, that sounds almost as tired as something you would type…
Comment by GOPer — October 24, 2007 @ 7:28 am
Pookie,
As I have told you before–no, I am not on anyone’s payroll (however, I have noticed that you have never denied being on anyone’s payroll every time you have accused me of that.) I am a retired management consultant (and voter)…which is one of the reasons I know that Nailen would not/could not possibly represent the people of this area. He doesn’t not use modern principals of managmenet which demand that employers use democratic management methods and empower their employees. I don’t think underpayng them and offering them no health benefits is going to empower very many people. He doesn’t take care of his employees, what in the heck would make anyone think that he could possibly represent the average voter in any area?
I strongly suspect that you and possibly a few others on this blog have been salted here to make it look like Nailen has a snowball’s chance in Hades to even make a dent in the vote. None of the professionals seem to think he is a viable candidate, so why do you die-hards keep trying to make it look like he has any backing beyond that which he has paid for?
Pay no attention to the ‘man’ behind the curtain…
So, Pookie, darlin’…what do you do? What makes you so gosh darned qualified to avow that Nailen has any potential, other than in his own mind?
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 1:06 am
Correction, I misread the numbers. Bremmer foods currently employs 276 people from the area, uses peanut products purchased within 100 miles of the Dothan area and expects to employ 300+ with the new expansion.
If Senator Smith did not have a major hand in bringing Bremmer to Dothan and helping aid the expansion, why did the mayor ‘especially thank’ her????
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 12:31 am
For those unable to access the URL for whatever reason, Bremmer foods announced the opening of a facility in Dothan tht will employ approximately 376 people from the area. In his address, Mayor Pat Thomas “especially thanked Senator Harri Anne Smith” for her assistance in making this work to bring jobs to the area.
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 12:26 am
http://64.150.166.75/cgi-bin/MyWeb/article_proc.pl?object=2087&category=26
Please note Senator Smith is not ‘glory hogging’…her photo does not even appear in the article; however, Mayor Thomas made a point of thanking Senator Smith for making it happen.
Breaking news as of Oct 23, 2007
Comment by MH — October 24, 2007 @ 12:23 am
MH don’t give me a long excuse about doing my homework. It should only take you 2-3 minutes to type out some accomplishments since you know the great
senator so well. After all, you have spent countless time typing out these general posts with no teeth. The fact is one of two things 1)Smith has no accomplishments or 2) you are too lazy to
figure out what they are (assuming she has some). Smith is likely to pull out of the race later this week or next for Nailen. The local powers are getting ready to meet. That is the deal being
cut and once again Smith will get a few small goodies while further becoming the Senator who cried wolf one too many times. MH, are you on Smith’s payroll as a publicist? You must be getting paid by the word!
Comment by Pookie Wilson — October 23, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
MH is off base, as usual. In terms of the “climate” in Dothan, we had a city election that was driven by a single issue, it had and still does not have anything to do with Rep or Dem voting.
Comment by JT — October 23, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
I read the last few threads - what is meant by the politics of Dothan? They don’t run with party affiliation in City elections if that is what is referenced.
Comment by Wiregrass Voter — October 23, 2007 @ 2:32 pm
Really? How do you explain the political climate of Dothan?
Comment by MH — October 23, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
You have got to be kidding me with that quote. I have never, ever heard of anyone refer to her as courageous or smart. And winning where dems far out weigh republicans??? That is amazingly laughable. Geneva, Houston and Dale are very Republican when it comes to voting.
Comment by JT — October 23, 2007 @ 1:47 pm