Alabama Politics in
Doc’s Political Parlor
& Home of Lawn Mower Repair

Johnny Ford used to be a lot of things. He used to be Tuskegee’s Mayor. He used to be a state Representative. He used to be a Democrat before he became the first black Republican legislator since Reconstruction.

Now, he used to be a Republican as he is a Democrat again, this time running for Senate District 28. The seat is currently held by Democrat Myron Penn who is undecided about running again.

This and several other updates are noted in the 2010 Senate Elections Directory, the 2010 House Elections Directory, and the 2010 Big List.

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The updates to the Senate Election Campaign Directory just keep coming, thanks largely to readers who are keeping us informed.

As always, you can find the link in the sidebar.

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In the wake of the big win by Republican Paul Sanford (pictured) Tuesday night in Senate District 7, I want to pass along this interesting bit.

This is excerpted from an email that John Pudner, the Director of External Affairs for the Alabama Farmers Federation, sent out Tuesday night.

A win by Sanford, the owner of the popular “Little Paul’s” Restaurant, [is] truly surprising since no other Republican holds a majority Democratic Senate District. Only Ben Brooks holds a 50/50 district in Mobile, while every other Republican Senator holds a district that is at least 55% Republican:

1. Paul Sanford - 44% Republican-56% Democratic
2. Ben Brooks - 50% Republican-50% Democratic
3. Charles Bishop - 55% Republican-45% Democratic
4. Arthur Orr - 55% Republican-45% Democratic
5. Del Marsh - 56% Republican-44% Democratic

In addition, only 40% of voters in Senate District 7 call themselves “conservatives,” a very low number for an Alabama district.

While Republicans have held NO majority Democratic districts, Democrat Marc Keahey’s landslide win last week in south Alabama made him one of nine Democratic Senators who has been able to hold a Republican leading district, including; Hinton Mitchem (59% GOP), Wendell Mitchell (57%), Marc Keahey (54%), Tom Butler (53%), Zeb Little (53%), Kim Benefield (53%), Ted Little (52%), Phil Poole (52%) and Lowell Barron (51%).

Interesting note: An Alabama campaign veteran in conversation with me last week challenged the notion that SD 22 (that Keahey won last week) was a lean-Democrat district, as others have characterized it. (For example, a Republican here, a Democrat here, and, in a statement released June 3, state GOP chair Mike Hubbard called SD 22 “a traditional Democrat district.”) The campaign veteran said that though Democrat Pat Lindsey had previously held the Senate seat, when you looked at other races in the last couple of election cycles that the district clearly trended a little Republican, maybe 52 or 53%. Pudner figures it about the same here (54%).

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Related Articles:

• SD-22 Campaign Peek
• Keahey Wins SD-22 - Updated
• Albritton and Keahey in SD 22 Special Election Today

Democrat Jeff Enfinger, former state Senate majority leader, former Republican, is reportedly making calls and considering challenging the newly elected Republican Paul Sanford for the Senate District 7 seat next year. You may remember that Enfinger considered running as a candidate for this week’s special election but eventually passed.

Enfinger was elected to the Senate in 1998 as a Republican, switched parties, and won re-election as a Democrat in 2002. He did not run for re-election in 2006. Democrat Parker Griffith won that open seat.

You’ll find that this item and other recent changes are reflected in the updated 2010 Senate Elections Directory. (The link is also in the sidebar).

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• Paul Sanford Wins SD-7 Race

Republican Paul Sanford handily beats Democrat state Rep. Laura Hall ~57% to ~42% in the special election today for Senate District 7. Sanford will replace Democrat Parker Griffith who vacated the seat when he was elected to Congress.

Here are the unofficial numbers.

UNOFFICIAL SUMMARY REPORT                         SPECIAL GENERAL ELECTION
                                                  MADISON COUNTY
                                                  JUNE 9, 2009
RUN DATE:06/09/09 08:48 PM

                                             VOTES PERCENT

 PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 57) .  .  .  .  .        56   98.25
 BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL.  .  .  .  .  .  .    20,891

STRAIGHT PARTY VOTING
    (WITH 56 OF 57 PRECINCTS COUNTED 98.25%)
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY (DEM) .  .  .  .  .  .     3,851   64.10
 REPUBLICAN PARTY (REP) .  .  .  .  .  .     2,157   35.90
    Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .         0
   Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    14,883

FOR STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT NO. 7
    (WITH 56 OF 57 PRECINCTS COUNTED 98.25%)
 LAURA HALL (DEM) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     8,872   42.47
 PAUL SANFORD (REP)  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    11,984   57.36
 WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        35     .17
    Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .         0
   Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .         0

Edit: I corrected the %’s in the 1st sentence.

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WVNN morning host Dale Jackson was responsible for the fake news release that instructed voters in Senate District 7 who supported Democrat Laura Hall to come to the polls on Wednesday instead of today, according to this post from the Huntsville Times on al.com. He had it on his website and read it on the air. According to the story, listeners who believed it and called in to the station were told the story was a joke.

Republicans who have been in touch with the Parlor have been quite unhappy about the fake release, saying that no one connected to Republican Paul Sanford’s campaign or the party had any knowledge of the release’s creation or distribution - and unhappy that anyone might think so. (No one I know that knows Sanford believes he would be capable of participating in anything like this.)

According to the Huntsville Times, “Jackson said Tuesday that if people were dumb enough to fall for his stunt and didn’t turn out to vote today, it was their own fault,” a statement remarkable in its unapologetic self-absolution.

A Huntsville Times article earlier this morning reported that the radio host had written on his blog, “Laura Hall is the pathetic cowardly candidate who is banking on the stupidity of the people in her district to vote for who they are told to, like lemmings.” As harsh as that was towards Hall, I heard Republicans calling Jackson worse today.

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• Voter Suppression Flier in SD-7
• Voter Suppression Effort in SD-7

A reader faxed me a grainy copy of a voter suppression flier in SD-7. Click on it to see a larger copy.

Here’s the text:

Click on the flier below to see an larger copy.

If you or someone you know got one of these fliers, I’d be interested to know how it was received. Are these being passed along from friend to friend? Left under car windshields? It’s hard to imagine that the Secretary of State would get involved if this was simply a joke on a small scale.

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Related Articles:

• Voter Suppression Effort in SD-7
• If You Missed the SD-7 Debate... *UPDATED*
• SD 7 Special Election Tomorrow

Boy, this represents some real sleaze… from a press release today from Secretary of State Beth Chapman.

MONTGOMERY - Secretary of State Beth Chapman has received notification indicating false information is being circulated regarding today’s District 7 State Senate race between Democrat Laura Hall and Republican Paul Sanford.

She wants to inform all voters in this election they are to cast their ballots today.

Emails and fliers have been circulating that state that due to “heavy expected turnout” there will be two elections this week: Tuesday for Republican voters and Wednesday for Democratic voters.

“This information is totally false,” says Secretary of State Chapman, who is Alabama’s chief elections official. “The election is being conducted today and today only. There is no election being conducted on Wednesday.”

Blood has been shed to protect our right to vote, and a few miscreants want to deny it to some with whom they differ by spreading a lie.

Can anyone get me a copy of said flier and/or email?

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• If You Missed the SD-7 Debate... *UPDATED*
• SD 7 Special Election Tomorrow

If you missed the SD 7 debate this evening, you may see it here in .asf format. If I have time later tonight, I’ll try to put it in a format that will stream for you, or perhaps by then it will be available on the WHNT website.

UPDATE: WHNT.com has the debate online and provides the code for embedding here:

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• SD 7 Special Election Tomorrow

Democrat Laura Hall and Republican Paul Sanford debate tonight on the eve of tomorrow’s election in Senate District 7. It will be on WHNT-19 from 6:30 to 7, and you can see it streamed on the internet here. How many people will really tune it to watch it, and how many of them will be undecided voters?

I hear a little more optimism about the election among Democrats than I do among Republicans, though we know that turnout is the key for a special election. Republicans are saying that they did as well as or better than the Democrats in getting absentee ballots returned. I hear anecdotally that Democrats have 70 or 80 people up there now knocking on doors of residents, and they believe they are ahead in the ground game. On the other side, a Republican close to the campaign tells the Parlor that they knocked on over 1000 doors on Saturday alone, and that they have 20-30 people out today and tomorrow continuing to go door to door.

Rumors, rumors… If you are interested in rumors about polls, AEA supposedly has a poll showing Hall ahead. And there are rumors that a poll done for the GOP shows a statistical dead heat between the candidates.

For more on the race, check out Flashpoint and Left in Alabama.

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The 2010 Senate Campaign Directory has almost certainly been updated since you last looked at it. It continues to evolve rapidly as more information comes in. Who’s running where, who is rumored to be running where… we do our best to keep up.

With the help of our readers and the Political Parlor’s Patent Pending Crystal Ball Technology (still in beta), names come on and names go off. Take a look.

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Probably the big news story this week in Alabama politics, is that Hank Sanders will not seek re-election to the state senate.

I always found his weekly Senate Sketches column to be a good example of how to inform your constituents of what you’re doing, who you’re meeting with and useful tidbits of practical political advise.

Thanks to Factfinder for the steer.

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Still travelling, and online time is limited.

Perhaps there is more to be said about the SD-22 race. There certainly are a lot of people talking about it. In the meantime, I’ll offer this direct mail piece that went out from the state GOP in support of Greg Albritton.

Another special election is coming up for Keahey’s House seat, and next week is the SD-7 special election between Democrat Laura Hall and Republican Paul Sanford.

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Related Articles:

• Keahey Wins SD-22 - Updated
• Albritton and Keahey in SD 22 Special Election Today

I am hearing from both sides of the aisle that Democrat Marc Keahey is victorious in today’s special election in SD-22 over Republican Greg Albritton. I haven’t found specific numbers but one usually-in-the-know Democrat says that the Keahey margin was about 60-40, about 3000 votes. I’ll try to update with better numbers.

Update: Albritton conceded before 9. One interested Republican tells the Parlor that it’s pretty simple, “They had a Democratic-leaning district, a better candidate, and more money.”

Update (11:34 pm): Associated Press calls Keahey the apparent winner.

With only a handful of precincts not yet reporting, Keahey had nearly 8,200 votes to about 5,500 for former Republican state Rep. Greg Albritton of Range in the special election Tuesday.

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• Albritton and Keahey in SD 22 Special Election Today

The Greg Albritton (R) and Marc Keahey (D) special election in Senate District 22 is the story for today.

One observer who wishes to stay anonymous says in email:

A lot of money and toil are being expended on behalf of keahey and albritton - gop party staff and dem party/trial/aea staff are all down there. Have heard grumblings @ lack of planning on the keahey side - tons of money on tv and none for election day. I am not exactly sure what all the people are down there doing, as none are known to me as gotv experts.

The word on dem side is that Hall is in better shape than expected, and probably has a better chance of winning than keahey.

A Montgomery Democrat tells the Parlor that there has been some natural tightening in the race, that the district probably leans Democrat 5 or 6 points. The Montgomery Dem believes that early polls showing Keahey up big weren’t realistic, but that Democrats still seem to think Keahey is likely to win.

Of course, it is a special election, so turnout will be low, and that means much larger potential for the unexpected. I do know that at least some Republicans are very hopeful about the race.

The Montgomery Democrat confirmed that AEA and the state Democratic Party had people going door-to-door, and added the observation that it’s a large, rural district that is not an easy one for a good ground operation.

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This site is an ongoing effort to contribute to the understanding, discussion, and flow of information around Alabama politics and policy. Toward that end, early in the legislative session I thought, “It seems like a little effort could make archived recordings of the House and Senate proceedings available to interested parties.”

I figured the occasional researcher might have interest. Perhaps a legislator who didn’t get to hear the discussion of his/her bill in the other chamber. A reporter now and then. I never figured there would be a stampede to the recordings, but I figured a few folks would be really glad to find them.

I didn’t announce the effort to make it happen early in the process because I knew there were a lot of issues to work out, technical hurdles, and we just weren’t sure how it would work out. I hated to announce it to find that we could not reliably make it happen.

Well, the effort might not have been as little as imagined, and truth be told, it was Walt who makes so many things happen around the Parlor who took the idea and ran with it. It was really quite an undertaking on Walt’s part, writing scripts, experimenting with different software, dealing with the headaches of power outages, and so on. But starting from Day 9 in the House and Day 10 in the Senate (the session is 30 days), we got most of the audio in both chambers.

So if you have curiosity to satiate, insomnia to cure, iPods to fill… heck, parts are mind-numbing enough that you could might could use them to extract a confession from someone… head on over to the 2009 Legislative Audio page and check it out.^* House and Senate podcasts, if you will… no special equipment needed though.

        LINK: 2009 Legislative Audio Page

More information is good.

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Republican nominee Paul Sanford takes to the air in the Senate District 7 race with a commercial (below) that has a “ton of money” behind it putting him on the air “a lot more than Laura,” one GOP’er tells the Parlor.

He’ll face Democrat Laura Hall in the special general election two Tuesdays from now. I’m hearing that Sanford is trailing a bit (a little or a lot, depending on the poll). A good ad, a lot of money, and those #’s could move.

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Related Articles:

• Paul Sanford Wins SD-7 GOP Nomination
• SD 7: Hall is Dem Nominee, Givhan/Sanford in Run-off

Who are Alabama’s most statesmanlike legislators?

I put that question to a broad range of politicos who have first hand experience with our state legislature - including Senators, Representatives, lobbyists, and other Montgomery insiders. While they were free to interpret “statesmanlike” as they wished, I suggested that it is marked by class, dignity, and a willingness to put good public policy above partisan politics.

Most enthusiastically participated, though many contributors echoed the sentiment of one legislator who told me, “Please keep my reply anonymous. I have to work with the others [that are not on his list].”

A legislator who previewed this list told me, “Probably as good a list as you can come up with. Like all humans, each have great strong points and some weaknesses. Thank you for taking time to point out there are a few good ones up here on Goat Hill.”

Many contributors did not offer comments, but I included some remarks from those who did.

On with the list…

House Dems

(more…)

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State Sen. Charles Bishop (R - Arley) will not seek re-election to the Senate. Is he hanging up the gloves or moving up a weight class? Rumors persist that he will run for Governor. Nothing in his comments reported at al.com discourages that belief.

Keep up with who is running and who might be running for his seat in our 2010 Senate Elections Directory.

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Related Articles:

• Another GOP Candidate for Gov?

From JeffcoInTouch.com:

RUN TIME:08:59 PM     MAY 12, 2009
                      STATISTICS

                                                       VOTES PERCENT

           PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 86) .  .  .  .  .        86  100.00
           REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL .  .  .  .  .    72,104
           BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL.  .  .  .  .  .  .     5,947
           VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL  .  .  .  .  .  .              8.25

                          ********** (Democrat) **********

          STATE SENATOR DISTRICT NO. 19
          VOTE FOR ONE  1
           LOUISE "LULU" ALEXANDER.  .  .  .  .  .       332    5.58
           MERIKA COLEMAN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,725   29.01
           PRISCILLA DUNN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,006   33.73
           ERIC MAJOR .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       364    6.12
           LAWRENCE MCADORY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       503    8.46
           NATHAN REED.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       123    2.07
           RODERICK "ROD" SCOTT.  .  .  .  .  .  .       873   14.68
           MADILYN SOUTHERN .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        21     .35

There is no Republican candidate, so the winner of the runoff between Coleman and Dunn will be the next Senator from District 19.

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A story to watch today is the Democratic primary race for the special election in Senate District 19. Eight candidates are vying for the seat, a safe one for Democrats.

The seat is open because of the conviction of Sen. E. B. McClain (D - Midfield) on 48 counts of money laundering, mail fraud, bribery and conspiracy.

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The 2010 General Election is 18 months away, but candidates are already lining up. With a nod to politics1.com for its inspiration and to the defunct (and still missed) AlabamaElections blog for the format, the Political Parlor is happy to present the 2010 State Senate Election Directory that lists incumbents, challengers, and other info for all 35 state Senate districts.

Many thanks to the collective wisdom that has already been contributed to this ongoing project. Your help in keeping the page current and complete is appreciated. You can send updated info via the contact page in the sidebar. (You can also send info for the forthcoming House version. We’ll need it!)

Check it out.

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Due to yesterday’s flood, the legislature meets for the first time in over 20 years in the old Capitol building.

Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom stands ready to preside over the Senate in front of a portrait of George Washington:

A different balcony perspective:
(more…)

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Related Articles:

• Photos: House Meets in Old Capitol
• Flood Shuts Down State House - Updated

The State House has been evacuated because of flooding. Elevators are shut down. ABC 33/40 has reported on the air that the power has been shut off and that basement walls “may be compromised”

This was a particularly important day for passing bills with enough time for them to pass in the other chamber before the end of the session.

Some pictures:

(more…)

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The site Shoals Insider says, “Former Lauderdale circuit court judge, Mike Suttle, is said to be interested in replacing Bobby Denton in the Alabama Senate, should he retire.”

More info on the man here.

Denton’s retirement announcement is expected tomorrow. Democratic state Rep. Tammy Irons is expected to run for the seat. Republican Lynn Greer is also considering it.

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Related Articles:

• Sen. Bobby Denton's Big Announcement
• Greer Eyes State Senate Run
• Last Encore for the Singing Senator?

The National Rifle Association endorses Democrat Marc Keahey in the special election for Senate District 22 (pdf). Keahey faces Republican Greg Albritton in the June 5 election.

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• Greg Albritton Wins GOP Primary in SD22

State Sen. Bobby Denton (D - Muscle Shoals) recently became a great-grandfather. And he has a big announcement:

Denton, who is said to be looking at retirement, says he will make a big announcement at 1:00pm on Saturday May 2 at People’s Drug in Cherokee, Alabama.

“I wanted to make the announcement where my roots are.” said Denton.

I like surprises as much as anybody, but I think we can imagine where this one is headed.

Thanks to reader W.

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• Greer Eyes State Senate Run
• Last Encore for the Singing Senator?

Barbecue man Paul Sanford is heavily outspent in the campaign but wins the run-off for the GOP nomination in Senate District 7 over Sam Givhan, 60% to 40%. He will face Democratic state Rep. Laura Hall in the June 9 election to succeed Democrat Parker Griffith in the seat.

Update: Rep. Mike Hubbard (R - Auburn), state GOP Chair, issued a statement:

After a hard fought primary and runoff, we congratulate Paul Sanford on his victory, and look forward to working with him to ensure victory on June 9th. The Party also thanks Sam Givhan for the manner in which he conducted his campaign, his dedication to the people of the district and his commitment to our Party. Now we must all focus our efforts on the general, and although anything can happen in a special election, we like our chances given Paul’s conservative stance on the issues and Democrat Laura Hall’s voting record.

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Lots of smallish and biggish posts that I hope to catch up on…

The main story to watch today is in Senate District 7 where Sam Givhan and Paul Sanford are competing in today’s Republican primary run-off. The winner faces Democratic nominee Laura Hall in the race for the seat vacated by Parker Griffith when he became Congressman.

Givhan led the six-person field 29% to Sanford’s 23%, but I haven’t heard anybody say that Sanford can’t win.

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Related Articles:

• SD 7: Hall is Dem Nominee, Givhan/Sanford in Run-off

Rep. Cam Ward (R - Alabaster) stopped by the Political Parlor to announce his candidacy for the open seat in Senate District 14 in 2010. The incumbent in SD 14, Republican Hank Erwin, will be running for Lt. Governor in 2010.

You know Rep. Ward from his blogging here in our Legislative Dispatch section (along with Democratic House Majority Leader Ken Guin this year). While a number of state legislators have taken to blogging on various sites in recent years, Rep. Cam Ward deserves credit both for being among the first (he and Democratic state Rep. Randy Hinshaw blogged here during the legislative session in 2007) and for his longevity (he has been blogging regularly at the Parlor for three legislative sessions now).

Jumping right in…

This is a big step for you.

I am very excited. It’s kind of neat that one of the things I’m doing with the announcement, that I mentioned in the press release that I sent out, is that I am going to do an interview with you on Doc’s Political Parlor. The biggest reason for that more than anything else is because so much of defining me in the legislature in the last few years has been through the blog. It is kind of a running story down in Montgomery now, “Hey, Cam, you do all the blogs. You do the blogging a lot.” It’s very funny.

It feels like it has been on balance more positive than not for you. I suppose you wouldn’t have kept at it otherwise.

It has really been fun. It has just been a lot of fun doing it. I guess the interesting thing is the dialogue you get back and forth. I guess you always get roughed up sometimes but it has really been the best way to communicate. I mean I couldn’t ask for a better medium. It used to be that blogging and websites, that used to be one of things that maybe you did it or maybe you don’t, but now if you don’t you’re out of luck. You’re just not in the mainstream of voters anymore.

You are announcing your candidacy in three other stops.

I’m going to go to Clanton. Centreville. Ending up in Helena. District 14 covers Chilton County, almost all of Bibb, western Shelby, and then a small part of Jefferson.

I have been in the House for 7 years now. I’ve been Vice Chairman for the House Republican Caucus. Really enjoyed my role in the House. I felt like I have slowly but surely taken on more of a leadership role which has been good. And now I’m just ready to take it to the next level.

What would you say that you are most proud of from your tenure in the House?
(more…)

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• Ward Announces SD 14 Candidacy