Both GOP and Dems claim state wins

By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
MONTGOMERY — Now that the dust is beginning to settle from one of the ugliest General Election campaigns in history an obvious question to ask is “who won?”
Predictably the chairs of both parties, Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh of the Republican Party and Joe Turnham of the Democratic Party, claimed victory. But the truth is, this was as close to a break-even election as we have had. Consider these numbers: There are 29 offices elected statewide in Alabama, with 24 presently held by Republicans, five by Democrats. That is precisely what it will be when the new terms begin in January. There has been only one Democrat filling one of the 19 seats on the state appellate courts. Come next January there will still be only one Democrat sitting on a state court bench.
The Democrats went into the election holding a 63-42 edge in the state House of Representatives and that is exactly the majority they will hold in the next administration.
Only in the Senate was there a very slight change. The Republicans picked up two seats, but they still are in the minority by a 23-12 margin.
The Democrats have reason to be encouraged by the election results in one regard because they stopped the bleeding. For almost two decades there had been a steady increase in the number of Republicans winning state offices and legislative seats.
If nothing else, the election proved that Alabama voters don't know the meaning of party loyalty. Never has there been so much ticket-splitting as there was last Tuesday.
Gov. Bob Riley, as expected, won by a landslide in winning re-election but Jim Folsom Jr., a Democrat, was elected lieutenant governor. Democrat Sue Bell Cobb won the top judicial prize of chief justice. But Troy King, a Republican, was elected attorney general.
Certainly Cobb's victory deserved top billing after the votes were counted. Her win made her the first woman to be elected chief justice.
Cobb's heated battle with incumbent Drayton Nabers not only set a record for campaign spending, but their TV war featured mud-slinging spots that some would say were unbecoming for a race for chief justice.
An interesting footnote: After it was all over both Judge Cobb and countless other political/advertising pros agreed that her “This Little Light of Mine” commercial — a faith-based, squeaky clean ad — very probably was the deciding factor in the race, and it was the best political ad I have seen since Charlie Graddick slammed that prison cell door in his successful race for Attorney General in 1978.
In mid-summer he was considered an overwhelming favorite to defeat Folsom. But for some inexplicable reason Strange waited until late in the summer to launch his General Election TV campaign. Folsom went on the air early with a warm and fuzzy spot talking his family, his love for hunting and his church — he got the “mo” as they say in football. And he never lost it.
Predictably, in a state where the race for governor never ends, hours after Riley had been declared the winner and Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley had conceded, the speculation began on who would the leading candidate for governor in 2010. With Gov. Riley required to vacate the office after two terms in office, the field is wide open. Of course Folsom, a former governor, topped the list as a likely Democrat nominee in 2010 but Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, after winning a landslide bid for reelection, quickly said to all who would listen that he too would very much like to be governor. Even the name of Chief Justice-elect Cobb has been dropped into the mix.
Had Strange won the race for lieutenant governor he surely would have been a leading contender for that party's nomination. But that talk quickly ended with his loss to Folsom.
With Strange out of the picture, there is no leader among possible Republican contenders. But you can be sure by 2010 there will be no shortage of candidates who will feel the office should be theirs.
In fact, less than 48 hours after the election six Democratic senators indicated they hoped to form a coalition with the 12 Republicans to oust Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, as the president pro tem.
This battle, if it develops, could get as dirty as some of the campaigns just concluded. Happily, though, it will not fill the TV airwaves with commercials.