I Think Alabama COULD become Democratic again!

[Syrinx]

Think about it. We have one of the largest black populations. And lots of poor and working-class whites.

Alabama should be a Democratic state!

Our state party is ineffectual. They seem to be satisfied with keeping the House in Monkey Town, where half the donkeys are really just elephants in straw hats.

I'd like to set our sights a little higher. Like defeating Sessions. We need a big-time candidate to beat him.

There's a strong progressive tradition here, but I'm stumped as I try to remember any current, strong progressive or liberal spokespeople for our state. I was hoping that Patricia Todd would make a little more noise. And Harper Lee too.

;)

Is there a lot of deadwood at the ADP? We, as the state party, need to be more aggressive. It doesn't seem that they are trying as hard as they could.

:shrug:

[nealmhughes]

1. What amazes me about the Party, after living in NY is that there is no visible machine at all.

When/if they have meetings, I think they are in an alley behind a transmission shop somewhere after midnight and one needs a special knock to get inside.
Were the meetings and nominations to various committees not so secretive, then it would be easier for a strong cadre of dedicated progressives to simply stack them and take control at the county level. This would preclude the people whose names normally appear only as defense attornies in felony trial newspaper articles or in real estate adverts from being the perpetual nominees.
Something happens to the brain when exposed to the toxic air in Monkeygomery for a spell. But what can one say for a soi-disant "city" that has only one neighborhood where anyone with a modicum of taste would deign to live, Cloverdale, the rest of the city being a collection of McMansionettes in former cotton fields and slums either realized or in the making?
Complacent smugness is the enemy of action, and the ADP is a poster child for that. If the people can't get rid of Aunt Fancy Sessions, then someone needs to take a long hard look at the party structure's effectiveness.
Those not in the viewing area in which we are honored here in Sodom-on-Tennessee, i.e., the Huntsville-Muscle Shoals area, are blessed. We now have a buffoon running for Bud's seat with a TV ad that is a direct reply to Obama's "bitter" soundbite. Evidently, C. Baswell-Guthrie, (R of course, and Babtist) is a graduate of the Phyllis Schaffley Famous Jesus and Guns Ad School is actually making a serious run to be the Congresswoman from Boeing and NASA. Parker Griffith has yet to reply, but there is a lot of blog space ridiculing her out of Florence, Bham and Huntsville, so perhaps the Party of God is destroying itself from within. I say finish 'em off! Have an old fashioned Big Jim style campaign, complete with the "suds bucket" and a band on the back of a flat bed truck.

[Syrinx]

2. Lord, help me

You're funnier than Hunter Thompson wearing a Goldilocks wig, carrying a collapsible party hypodermic filled with some vile potion of death between his teeth. (Or something like that.) Keep up the good work!

:thumbsup:

[trof]

11. Our county executive committee is practically invisible.

They throw a rinky-dink $30-$40 a head dinner once a year.
Last time I went it was at a farm in Fairhope that folks usually rent for a barbecue or a hayride.

I bellied up to the bar and asked for a Scotch & soda.
I might as well have asked for a bottle of '98 Dom Perignon.
"Um...we got Bud Lite and some white wine. Wait...I think there's a bottle of Bourbon somewhere."

Anyway, outside of the amateurish dinner I hear nothing out of them the rest of the year. I'm told they have meetings, but never what was discussed or done.

Five years ago myself and a few others started the South Baldwin Democrats club. We've built our list of past and current dues paying members up to a little over 100. Mostly northerners who have retired here.
Woopee.

We're lucky if 20 show up at a meeting.
10 or 12 is usually more like it.
bah

[trof]

3. We can't even find a viable candidate against Josiah 'Do Nothing' Bonner.

I thought we might a few months ago in Lodmell and then he got busted for soliciting a hooker in Daphne.
Finis.

[road2000]

4. There are hookers in Daphne now?

Guess I've been gone a while.

Can't really imagine a hooker at Manci's or Judge Roy Bean's!

[terrell9584]

5. He was a native of Huntsville

And as I recall he was a unitarian.....that pretty much precluded him from having a real shot. I actually think that if Fuller could somehow find his way into some money he could at least turn it into a fight. The reason being, he would have to run against a certain entity, something which the incumbent (and pretty much everyone to ever hold the seat) has represented. There are now just enough votes that, when combined with the black vote, could make such a cockamamey scheme viable.

[nealmhughes]

6. A Unitarian! From Sodom-on-Tennessee! He probably eats sushi and drinks German beer!

Simply won't do in the Most Serene Christian Republic of Alabamastan!

I'd bet you money that lowlife grinds Gevalia coffee and runs it through a Krups espresso machine! He might even -- I shudder at the thought of typing further -- read French! 2:1 he drives a Volvo over an F-150 pickup, too.

[terrell9584]

7. there is no religious right on the coast

but still, he would have been painted as an outsider and a carpetbagger. Bright should win the Montgomery seat and Cramer's should be a hold, but I wouldn't expect the delegation to have a major shift until after Governor Folsom and the legislature redraw districts for 2012/14

[OwnedByFerrets]

9. No religious right on the coast?

Sure you jest, or just forgot your :sarcasm:

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. We need to get rid of Sessions so damn bad...

but, if we cant do it in this environment, we never will. Is there anything we can do to get this done?

[Syrinx]

10. it looks like Vivian Figures will be the nominee

She doesn't seem to be the strongest candidate we could have run, though I admit I know little about her.

The ADP seems to be totally asleep at the wheel, just accepting the "fact" that Alabama is a "red" state. We need some leadership in the state party. I've seen people here praise Joe Turnham, but he has done nothing to impress me so far.

If circumstances were different, I think Don Siegelman probably would have run against Sessions, and with the current anti-GOP mood, would have stood a decent chance of winning.

Instead, we are likely to wind up with a a state legislature back-bencher, with very limited monetary support. Last I saw, Sessions has about five million dollars on hand, while Figures has about fourteen thousand. That's a pretty serious deficit.

The only hope for Figures is an overwhelming turnout of black voters for Barack Obama, without a countervailing surge among Republican racists. I assume that is possible, but doubt it will happen. We'll see. I will hope and pray.

[rolltide002]

12. It's even worse here on campus in Tuscaloosa.

When I was freshman I attended plenty of College Democrats meetings. I was not impressed with either leadership or attendance. Since I am now back in school after 2 years away, I see little change in how it was. I always expected the college age crowd to be the grassroots movement like it used to be. But with the poor showing, and extreme popularity of the College Republicans (usually for social, not political reasons, they start so young...), makes for an uninviting atmosphere. It is little wonder these same people grow up to be a thoroughly disappointing state level party.

[Kelly Hayes-Raitt]

13. Info helps too....Visitor to Iraq can speak to your group

Sorry to be slightly off-topic, but I'm having a terrible time posting.

I'm traveling through Atlanta between Feb 1 - 23, 2009, to speak about my pre- and post-invasion trips to Iraq. I also spent this summer volunteering in Syria with Iraqi refugees.

I'm happy to address your political club, church, temple, neighborhood association, Rotary Club or school while I'm in Birmingham....I've given this presentation over 200 times, including to a group of Congresswomen in the US Capitol. This talk may not turn TN blue, but it will make you see red!

My bio is on my blog, http://www.PeacePATHFoundation.org .

(I'll do a clearer post once DU allows me to post a thread. Thanks for your patience!)