AL Gov: Any predictions?

[RunInRed 16,992]

R: Bentley, Byrnes, James, Johnson, Moore, Potts, Taylor

D: Davis, Sparks

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Republicans

Byrne wins a plurality

James gets to the runoff

Moore

Bentley

Byrne wins the runoff in July.

Democrats

Davis beats Sparks

General election

Byrne beats Davis

[Tigermike 3,425]

Anyone but Davis.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Charles Barkley gonna take it all.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Anyone but Davis Sparks.

FTFY. Sparks is way more liberal than Davis ever thought of being. He'd be a train wreck.

[RunInRed 16,992]

Anyone but Davis Sparks.

FTFY. Sparks is way more liberal than Davis ever thought of being. He'd be a train wreck.

Who is the most moderate Republican of the likely contenders?

[Tigermike 3,425]

Anyone but Davis Sparks.

FTFY. Sparks is way more liberal than Davis ever thought of being. He'd be a train wreck.

Who is the most moderate Republican of the likely contenders?

Just pick one they are all moderates.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

All of them are pretty conservative. I guess relatively speaking, Byrne, but not by much. Roy Moore is probably the most hard core conservative socially, though all of them are social conservatives. After that, Tim James, then Bentley and then Byrne, but we're talking little things. Moore and James probably are the most against gaming (bingo, etc.) of the group while Bentley and Byrne don't see it as the solution but would put it to the people for a vote. Byrne is no friend of the AEA and neither is Bentley. James tried to paint Byrne as a liberal because he was a Democrat back in the 90s, but the charge didn't really stick when you analyzed his record.

[autiger4life 3]

Byrne will get my vote for hating the AEA. The sooner teacher tenure is done away with the better.

[RunInRed 16,992]

Sparks beats Davis. Looks like a 4-man race on the Republican side.

[TheDrewYouKnew 3]

Byrne will get my vote for hating the AEA. The sooner teacher tenure is done away with the better.

That would be a step in the right direction. There are too many ignorant morons "teaching" in public schools in Alabama.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

I'm shocked that Sparks trounced Davis like that.

And Bentley seemingly came out of nowhere. He might actually pull off a runoff and leave James on the outside looking in. I'll be fine with Byrne or Bentley.

[TexasTiger 13,556]

Does Sparks have a shot in the general?

[TitanTiger 20,708]

I don't think so. He campaigned to the left of Davis. I think Bentley or Byrne will beat him by double digits.

Now if Tim James slips in somehow, who knows? He's made some enemies in this primary campaign.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Put it this way. Sparks and Davis combined for about 306,000 votes in the primary. The top 4 Republicans have combined for about 445,000 votes. I realize there will be some crossover, but I can't imagine that you'd see 70,000 votes worth of it.

[RunInRed 16,992]

Are these guys really the best we've got? :sigh:

[MDM4AU 337]

Byrne will get my vote for hating the AEA. The sooner teacher tenure is done away with the better.

Tenure is not all bad. Tenure is not a job for life and tenured teachers can be fired. The vast majority of cases in which a teacher should be fired but is not, it's because the administration has not documented the grievance properly -- it's not the fault of tenure. I (and my wife) agree there has to be a system of due process, checks, and balances so that teachers can be fired when they aren't getting the job done and are milking the system looking for the great retirement. There are several reasons why teachers get tenure and one of them is so the next time a school like Hoover, or Prattville, or Daphne, or Permian (TX), or Valdosta (GA) needs a new football coach, they can't fire a history teacher like, say...my wife, to make room for the coach. Or all of a sudden, the school needs a Health/Driver's Ed teacher and the Admin feels there are too many _____________ teachers there.

I'll admit, my wife is a school teacher. My wife is great at what she does and has been doing it for 10 years. Her classes are more than lecture and end of chapter questions. She gets the kids involved, uses every bit of technology she can get her hands on, and challenges her kids to think for themselves. She has this way about her that gets the "hardest" kids to perform well and interact like no other teachers can or have been able to do in the past. In 90% of schools across the nation my wife would be nominated for Teacher of the Year most every year.

But here is the catch...her Principal is an absolute douche nozzle with a really good friend down at the BOE. He doesn't like her. He has tried to run her off and may have finally done so this year (she's looking into transferring). But without tenure, there is no doubt in my mind he would have found a reason to fire her as soon as he took over as Principal. It goes back to when she started and was the Cheer Sponsor and he was a Football Coach.

I understand the pros as well as the cons of tenure. But if you think getting rid of it all together will in any way, shape, or form increase the quality of teachers, you are sadly mistaken. Teacher's aren't paid enough to put up with what they have to put up with that is just normal for the job (bratty kids, brattier parents, etc.). To have to deal with that on top of knowing that as soon as the good ole boy network needs a favor that you could be out the door is just too much for too little. The future education graduates will simply do something else. Math and Science majors are already going into other fields.

[Tigermike 3,425]

I'm shocked that Sparks trounced Davis like that.

Davis ran a strange campaign don't you think? While he ran for years (it seemed) and he was supposed to have a huge amount of money he didn't run the ads like would be expected and I don't remember seeing him on news, making speeches, on the talk shows, etc. etc. Or did I miss something along the way?

Or was his strategy to save the money and spend big in the general election? If so his big plan backfired.

[Tigermike 3,425]

With 58 percent of the precincts reporting, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks won with 65 percent to U.S. Rep. Artur Davis's 35 percent. Sparks, who is white, had the support of the state's four major black political groups.

El Linko

Why do you think that was? Any thoughts or knowledge of why those groups endorsed Sparks over Davis?

[BamaGrad03 0]

With 58 percent of the precincts reporting, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks won with 65 percent to U.S. Rep. Artur Davis's 35 percent. Sparks, who is white, had the support of the state's four major black political groups.

El Linko

Why do you think that was? Any thoughts or knowledge of why those groups endorsed Sparks over Davis?

I can speak to that as Davis has been the representative for my district.

Artur Davis 2-3 years ago would have the black vote in this state. But since he decided he was going to run for Governor, he started drifting away from Obama with his votes and his words. Became much more right leaning in preparations for running in Alabama.

What he didn't account for, however, is having to win the nomination.

On the way in to vote yesterday, I spoke with Martha Bozeman's sister. She said Bozeman and Davis parted ways (she managed his previous campaign) because of Davis' positions being on the opposite side of the fence from the president.

He voted against healthcare (and I think against the stimulus package). And while I was happy about that, I don't think the democrat voters were.

[Tigermike 3,425]

With 58 percent of the precincts reporting, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks won with 65 percent to U.S. Rep. Artur Davis's 35 percent. Sparks, who is white, had the support of the state's four major black political groups.

El Linko

Why do you think that was? Any thoughts or knowledge of why those groups endorsed Sparks over Davis?

I can speak to that as Davis has been the representative for my district.

Artur Davis 2-3 years ago would have the black vote in this state. But since he decided he was going to run for Governor, he started drifting away from Obama with his votes and his words. Became much more right leaning in preparations for running in Alabama.

What he didn't account for, however, is having to win the nomination.

On the way in to vote yesterday, I spoke with Martha Bozeman's sister. She said Bozeman and Davis parted ways (she managed his previous campaign) because of Davis' positions being on the opposite side of the fence from the president.

He voted against healthcare (and I think against the stimulus package). And while I was happy about that, I don't think the democrat voters were.

(Those were clearly political votes trying to distance himself for conservative voters in Alabama. It does appear his base didn't approve.)

Thanks BG.

[RunInRed 16,992]

With 58 percent of the precincts reporting, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks won with 65 percent to U.S. Rep. Artur Davis's 35 percent. Sparks, who is white, had the support of the state's four major black political groups.

El Linko

Why do you think that was? Any thoughts or knowledge of why those groups endorsed Sparks over Davis?

I can speak to that as Davis has been the representative for my district.

Artur Davis 2-3 years ago would have the black vote in this state. But since he decided he was going to run for Governor, he started drifting away from Obama with his votes and his words. Became much more right leaning in preparations for running in Alabama.

What he didn't account for, however, is having to win the nomination.

On the way in to vote yesterday, I spoke with Martha Bozeman's sister. She said Bozeman and Davis parted ways (she managed his previous campaign) because of Davis' positions being on the opposite side of the fence from the president.

He voted against healthcare (and I think against the stimulus package). And while I was happy about that, I don't think the democrat voters were.

Accurate. Davis pretty much sealed his political fate among Democrats in this state when he voted against healthcare reform. Politically (if that's how he was weighing it), he should have known better -- it's not like Republicans were going to vote for him anyways.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Here's what bothers me about it: while Artur Davis made some votes that I personally agreed with, I'm not his constituency. He represents a largely democrat area.

It's just another case of a politician not representing those who elected him...and instead doing what they think serves themselves best.

[bellefay1 1]

I live in Atlanta and haven't kept up with anything related to Alabama politics for a long while (outside of the Free the Hops movement) and ended up getting a heavy dose of the race while going to a graduation two weeks ago. Hearing some of the ads accusing one candidate of not believing the Bible to be 100% factual and another guy wanting to teach evolution in the schools...are topics like that stuff people really care about? You obviously can't gauge the entire race based on a couple of commercials, and I was driving when the "Does the Governor want to cut Saban's salary-gate" was going on but honestly, I was a bit taken back at hearing/seeing those commericals while there.

[RunInRed 16,992]

I live in Atlanta and haven't kept up with anything related to Alabama politics for a long while (outside of the Free the Hops movement) and ended up getting a heavy dose of the race while going to a graduation two weeks ago. Hearing some of the ads accusing one candidate of not believing the Bible to be 100% factual and another guy wanting to teach evolution in the schools...are topics like that stuff people really care about? You obviously can't gauge the entire race based on a couple of commercials, and I was driving when the "Does the Governor want to cut Saban's salary-gate" was going on but honestly, I was a bit taken back at hearing/seeing those commericals while there.

Welcome to the Great State of Alabama, where an entire candidacy can be founded on a simple premise: I have a bible, I love to hunt, I'm a "real" conservative.