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| U.S. Rep. Terry Everett |
Alabama’s second U.S. House District looks like the only Alabama Congressional seat that may have much drama to it in 2008 (though, to be fair, there are some who believe Democratic Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks could mount a challenge to incumbent GOP Senator Jeff Sessions in ‘08).
The unknown about AL-2 is whether seven-term, Republican incumbent Terry Everett will run for re-election.
The circulating rumor that I have heard from disparate sources is that ambitious state Representative Jay Love (R – Montgomery) plans to run for the seat in ‘08 whether or not Everett retires. Politicos on both sides of the aisle believe Love to be a strong contender for the seat after Everett bows out. The idea is that if the 70 year-old Everett is undecided about whether to run again, then the rumor of a challenge from Love may nudge him off the fence toward retirement.
However, a source in the know tells me that while Love “would almost certainly run for the seat if Everett were to retire,” there is no chance that Love will run against Everett. The source believes that the rumor was started to raise the incumbent Everett’s anger against Love. And, “as far as Everett goes, I believe he is going to run again, but I don’t think you or I will know for sure until the last day of qualifying.”
Who are other candidates for Everett’s seat when he retires? Sources speculate that besides Jay Love, GOP candidates might include state Rep. Greg Wren (Montgomery), state Rep. Steve Clouse (Ozark) and state Sen. Larry Dixon (Montgomery) who lost the GOP nomination to Everett in 1992. State Sen. Harri Anne Smith (Slocomb) is often mentioned in any discussion for the seat, but I hear that she has “no interest” in going to DC. A source adds, “All of these exclude any potential statewide people who might already live in that area like State Auditor Sam Shaw, State Treasurer Kay Ivey, and Public Service Commission President Jim Sullivan.”
One observer believes “the most likely scenario on the GOP side might be a Montgomery candidate vs a Wiregrass candidate in a runoff.”
On the Democratic side, Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright was most often mentioned as a potential candidate. One source believed that Bright might run in ‘08 even if Everett does not retire. State Rep. Terry Spicer (Elba) could be a candidate, and state Sen. Jimmy Holley (Elba) should not be ruled out.
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[...] Thursday, March 29, 2007 Alabama Congressional District 2 Dan on 2007-03-29 @ 9:40 am Doc’s Political Parlor has an interesting write-up about Terry Everett’s US House district. It’s likely to be the only kind of drama at the federal level in the 2008 election. If he retires, it will be a very interesting race. If he doesn’t, it’ll just be kinda fun to watch the Democrats try so hard for the only Republican seat in Congress they have a snowball’s chance of scoring. Filed under The Feds permalink :: email author :: no comments [...]
I dont know how well Holley would fit in with the Dems in DC. If he thinks he has problems with Lowell and the crew down here. Just wait until he runs into the Pelosis and Rangels and Conyers and Obeys. But never the less I think its a moot point anyway to argue about a Democrat. Unless the districts are changed, the democrats won’t win anything down here next year with it being a Presidential election year.
Bobby Bright lives in East Montgomery in the 3rd Congressional District, so he could not run for Everett’s seat.
Actually he could. Interestingly enough, it is not a requirement that a representative live in the House District that he or she represents.
However, when the dust settles, it is certainly a possibility that Bright could be a candidate in 08 for AL-3 against Mike Rogers.
Bright and his wife are from the Wiregrass so he has soem ties to the 2nd district.
Don’t forget about Troy King, he lives in the District and would be a great candidate. He is from the wiregrass (Elba) and has amazing contacts in Montgomery.
I work with the Legislature and I can tell you for a fact that Jay Love is who most think will follow Everett. He definitely has the resources and is well respected by people on both sides of the aisle. I know he also has a good relationship with Riley and with Hubbard,the GOP chairman. I think he has a good shot.
He will have to fight Greg Wren for the seat. Wren has told several people he is not going to seek re-election but will run for congress regardless of what Terry Everett does.
FWIW, I know that the link to Rep. Terry Everett’s picture in this post is broken, at least as I type this. This is related to the web hosting company’s upgrades and the other problems of the day. The company tells me these problems will work themselves out, though it may be hours.
Keith,
You’ve got to be joking. Surely you don’t thing that King would be a “great candidate” for District 2. He has more baggage than the JFK Internatl Airport at Christmas time. And if he got elected — how do you think he’d make Ala. look? As if we don’t have enough problems with our image as a state in the national press. The last person we need as our emissary in DC is Troy King.
All that aside, he wouldn’t lower himself to serve in the Congress. He’s got his eyes on the Governor’s mansion.