[Reactionary]

Runoff Vote July 13th, 2010
General Election November 2, 2010

The GOP runoff will decide the GOP Gubernatorial candidate (Byrne, James, Bentley) and the Ag and Industries candidate (John McMillam amd Dorman Grace).

In this thread I made predictions:

IMO the biggest upset was Sparks beating Davis in the Democratic Party's Governor's race.

THEN: I think that Artur Davis will win the Democratic nomination for Governor, and that the GOP will have a runoff between Bradley Byrne and either Tim James or Roy Moore - and Byrne will win. In November the GOP will keep the Governors office - Bradley Byrne. NOW: Ron Sparks beat Artur Davis 62% to 38%. I got that wrong, but it's for the best (if you're a GOP candidate). The GOP runoff is still to be decided but it looks like Bradley Byrne (28%) vs Tim James (25%) or Robert Bentley (25%). In November the GOP will keep the Governors office - Bradley Byrne.

THEN AND NOW: For Lieutenant Governor, I expect to see incumbent Little Jim Folsom (D) vs Kay Ivey (R) in November - this will be the closest race in November and the only major seat the Dems have a chance to win.

THEN: For Attorney General, I expect to see Big Luther Strange (R) vs Michel Nicrosi (D) - Strange will win. NOW: Big Luther (R) won; he'll face James Anderson (D) in November.

THEN AND NOW: For Secretary of State, incumbent Beth Chapman (R) will thump Scott Gilliland (D) in November.

THEN: For State Treasurer, it's a toss-up between Young Boozer and George Wallace Jr in the GOP primary, the winner will beat Charles Grimsley (D) in November. NOW: Young Boozer (R) beats Charles Grimsley (D) in November.

THEN AND NOW: Incumbent State Auditor Samantha Shaw (R) will win easily in November over Miranda Joseph (D).

THEN: For Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, I expect to see John McMillan (R) beat Glen Zorn (D) in November. NOW: John McMillan (R) faces Dorman Grace (R) in the primary runoff. I still expect to see John McMillan (R) beat Glen Zorn (D) in November.

TBD: I think that the GOP will keep their seats on the AL Supreme Court and that the Dems will keep their seats on the Public Service Commission.

TBD: There is a chance that the GOP will win the State House (for the first time since Reconstruction) and possibly even the State Senate.

I'm voting NO on Amendment 1 - the misleadingly named 'Affordable Fuel Amendment', which will raise propane prices through an assessment (it's 'not a tax', get it?).

Statewide Amendment - Propane Gas -- 2,736 of 2,843 precincts reporting (96%)
No 404,667 60% (X)
Yes 269,911 40%

WHNT.com Election Results: June 1, 2010

[pennquaker09]

It was pretty much pointless to vote, nothing is going to change.

[ghett61]

Originally Posted by pennquaker09

It was pretty much pointless to vote, nothing is going to change.

Did you expect some complete change or something? I mean this is Alabama. Change happens very slowly here. If you change things too quickly, then the natives notice it and get all angry about it.

[jakabedy]

So negative! I think Bentley's good showing is a sign of change, to a degree. True, he may have benefitted from the ugliness in the Byrne v. James ads, but the fact that he did as well as he did means that Alabamans don't always fall for the negative campaigning and God-and-Family qualifications.

I liked Bentley, but felt a vote for him might have been a wasted vote. So I voted for Byrne. The last thing I wanted to see was a James-Moore runoff.

I also think Strange's victory over King in the AG race was a sign of change. No longer can an AG who essentially hides in his office and comes out only on occasion to beat up a sex offender still be considered the best choice.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by pennquaker09

It was pretty much pointless to vote, nothing is going to change.

See, PQ, I think you are completely wrong here. You may not care much for Byrne or Bentley from an ideological point of view, but you cannot accuse them of being demagogues. The fact that James and Moore have finished 3rd and 4th means that the voters are a far cry from the days of George C. Wallace. Further, I think Luther Strange's victory over King is a huge step forward. And John McMillan got a third in the polls despite all his bluster, too. So I would offer that the people of this state, having gotten a taste of effective and honest governance from Bob Riley, are more interested in candidates who are competent and can take the state forward.

To me the most interesting contest, however, was the Democratic governor's race, where Sparks beat Davis. Here we had the interesting situation where the black political organizations backed a white guy over Artur Davis.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

See, PQ, I think you are completely wrong here. You may not care much for Byrne or Bentley from an ideological point of view, but you cannot accuse them of being demagogues. The fact that James and Moore have finished 3rd and 4th means that the voters are a far cry from the days of George C. Wallace. Further, I think Luther Strange's victory over King is a huge step forward. And John McMillan got a third in the polls despite all his bluster, too. So I would offer that the people of this state, having gotten a taste of effective and honest governance from Bob Riley, are more interested in candidates who are competent and can take the state forward.

To me the most interesting contest, however, was the Democratic governor's race, where Sparks beat Davis. Here we had the interesting situation where the black political organizations backed a white guy over Artur Davis.

I'm quite happy with the outcome of the Republican primary, I so hate demagoguery. Better than I expected for sure. Bentley seems preferable to James for me, let's hope he pulls through to the run-off. And like I said, I have the opinion that Byrne's religiosity is to remain competitive. I hope so at least, since from the current best guess he's the next gov.
Sparks might be more my ideological taste, but Bentley seems cleaner to me. But I guess, that's only a matter of time if he were to actually win any elections. In politics, at least a little dirt is inevitable.

I voted Sparks, but honestly didn't really care who won that race. Davis' platform was faaaaaar better, but he disappointed me as my elected rep and I couldn't bring myself to vote for him. Funny how his own district counties didn't even vote him in.

As for PQ's point, I think there has to be a middle ground. Elections rarely solve everything, and indeed often hardly matter. But they do have the potential for at least incremental change from an effective leader and even rare instances of a real positive change. Or a long-sighted leader seeding hope for future change. Although its extremely difficult to detect who can be an effective leader from a voter's perspective.

[Reactionary]

pq = "nothing is going to change"

The State House and Senate may change parties for the first time since Reconstruction - I call that change!

[mimpdaddy]

Well, the Autur Davis results have went national. I read people comments on the outcome and it's goes to show how the haters know nothing about this state. Some people feel that it shows how racist Alabama is because Davis lost the primary. Ridiculous, Ron Sparks probably received most of his votes from black people.

[ghett61]

Originally Posted by mimpdaddy

Well, the Autur Davis results have went national. I read people comments on the outcome and it's goes to show how the haters know nothing about this state. Some people feel that it shows how racist Alabama is because Davis lost the primary. Ridiculous, Ron Sparks probably received most of his votes from black people.

I read some articles and then comments on them on some news sites. It was blatantly obvious that some didn't read the article at all. All they read was black guy loses election in Alabama and they just went with that.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by mimpdaddy

Well, the Autur Davis results have went national. I read people comments on the outcome and it's goes to show how the haters know nothing about this state. Some people feel that it shows how racist Alabama is because Davis lost the primary. Ridiculous, Ron Sparks probably received most of his votes from black people.

Yep. And George Wallace was re-elected in 74 and 82 because of the black vote, too. Isn't that strange?