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| Ron Sparks announces his 2010 candidacy for Governor before Birmingham’s Downtown Democrats. Photo by Patrick Mackin |
Catching up… A lot of interesting chatter in the crowd at Ron Sparks’ Friday announcement to the Birmingham’s Downtown Democrats that he was running for Governor…
One wag joked that Sparks’ campaign staff was holding up the “Sparks for Governor” signs behind the crowd for Sparks to see so that Sparks would not forget which office to mention in his announcement. Another wondered if the marker was dry where the “Lt.” had been marked out on the signs. One said in seriousness that Sparks had thousands of dollars in “Sparks for Lt. Governor” signs that he could not use. (In case you are new to the sage: After Democratic Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom’s surprise announcement that he was going to run for re-election instead of for Governor, Sparks passed on Lt. Gov. and announced for Governor, which had been a strong interest of his all along.)
I felt like watching Sparks’ settle on his race was a bit like watching the fellow carrying his tray from table to table in the high school lunchroom looking for a place to sit. No matter how much you liked him you felt for the awkwardness of the situation that wasn’t entirely of his making.
Others have done a good job covering the content of his speech and its populist themes so I’ll not cover that ground again. (You’ve probably seen the links in our Daily Headlines, and Left in Alabama has video from the event.)
Several were interested in and surprised by the talk that Roger Bedford might get in the race. There was widespread agreement that he would liven up the race, and many used superlatives talking about what a relentless campaigner and aggressive fundraiser he has been in the past. Many thought he would be unlikely to win ultimately but were quite interested in talking about how he might shake up the race. One said, “If they [Artur Davis' team] underestimate Roger, it is to their peril. He already beat a Congressman.” (He defeated Congressman Glenn Browder for the 1996 Democratic Senate nomination.)
The Bedford talk has died down a bit since but the story is that he is still inclined to run, is having some polling done, and will probably wait until after the session for any announcement.
Many in the crowd wanted to talk about how aggressive the Artur Davis campaign has been, getting some licks in on Sparks and Bedford before either had announced. One attendee said, “That’s [Davis' media consultant] Ben Chao. His motto is ‘If you are going to be my enemy tomorrow, you are my enemy today.’”
Another attendee said that Davis had not called one single elected black official for support and that he would be wise to do so.
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Thats an interesting choice. I think Chao left Bill Fletchers firm up in Nashville. Fletcher is well known for dirty campaigns. Itll be interesting to see if Chao employs some of Fletchers tricks.
I think hiring all people from outside Alabama will either work brilliantly or horribly for Davis. Alabama is as politically complex a state as there is when it comes to statewide races. There are nuances and dog whistles that often go unnoticed by the outsider. One thing to Davis’ advantage is that the power of the old dominant organizations (ADC, etc) is not as strong as it once was. He can bypass them and take his message straight to the people if he is able to raise a lot of money.
Davis is not kissing the ring of those in control now (which is why they don’t like him). This will either be an asset or a major blow to his campaign. Only time will tell.
I think I read once that Chao has been with Davis since he first beat Hilliard – if that is true, then Chao knows a good bit about the intricacies of Alabama politics.
The people around Davis are very good at maximizing his press coverage. They pushed Davis into the stories on Sparks’ announcement by making a sharp counterattack on Sparks and Bedford; they got surprising play for what is usually a non-event, the announcement of campaign staff, and the launching of his ethics proposal is already generating a lot of print and online traffic.
Davis is also doing something that is very shrewd. Driving home ethics reform and assailing Montgomery insiders is smart general election politics and will help keep his polling numbers strong in matchups agn Byrne and James. None of these moves, by the way is remotely costing him with rank and file Democrats or blacks.
I would not be surprised if Anzalone has a hand in some of these moves. Someone on this team is very, very good.
Bedford may still get in. He thinks that Sparks would run a distant third and that he can beat Davis in a run-off. What Roger is missing is how savage the Birmingham and Mobile press will be to his record on ethics.
That’s an awful photo of Ron Sparks. Surely someone would lend you a more flattering one — I think countrycat took some. Sparks looked and sounded good in Birmingham.
Two things Davis is better at than any of his competition: public speaking and getting coverage in the Birmingham news media.
Anon #4; the 7th is not anything like the rest of Alabama. Davis has no doubt moved a great deal to the center since his defeat of Hilliard, but it is the most liberal and minority district in the state no question. I believe he can win statewide; I just believe that Ron Sparks is the one Democrat besides Jim Folsom who could beat him. Not sure that he will, but he is capable of doing it, which is more than I can say for Roger Bedford.
I would even agree that ethic proposals are not costing Davis anything among rank and file Dems or blacks; what is costing him something is his misreading of the populist zeitgeist. He was against the auto bailout but in favor of the bank bailout. Both of those votes will come back to haunt him among union members and working families. The important question is not whether Alabama is ready for a black governor; I think polling shows that there is no queston they are. The important question is whether Alabama Democrats are ready for a pro-big business, pro-choice governor.
The reason that the ethics proposals aren’t ruffling any feathers is b/c the Democrats know that they have killed them for the past 6 years and they will continue to do so regardless of who is Governor (assuming they are still in the majority in the Senate).
The real question is not about whether Alabamians are ready for a black governor – that factor is irrelevant to most people – the real question is if Alabamians desire a liberal Congressman to be their governor. I’m guessing no.
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