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Alabama Scene election, Democratic Party officials were encouraged by the fact that more Alabamians voted a straight Democratic ticket in that election than did Republicans. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that 279,231 Alabamians voted the straight Democratic ticket while only 210,231 voted a straight Republican ticket. State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said these numbers were encouraging. "Not only are Democrats continuing to vote more straight-ticket, but we're doing a better job of getting Republican voters to split a ticket for Democrats," he said. These numbers may be skewed a bit by the fact that black voters in Alabama once again voted as a bloc for Democrat candidates. In fact, in the seven predominantly black counties in Alabama--Bullock, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Perry and Wilcox--every Democrat candidate for state office won by margins of three-or-four to one...overwhelming evidence of straight-ticket voting. For example, in those counties Democrat gubernatorial nominee Lucy Baxley outpolled Gov. Bob Riley by a margin of about 23,000 to 8,400. Most of the other statewide races were not nearly that close. The only Republican to make even a presentable showing in a predominantly black county was State Treasurer Kay Ivey. In her home county of Wilcox she was only beaten by a two-to-one margin... The chairwoman of the Alabama Republican Party with the unusual first name...Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh...has announced she will be stepping down after two years on the job. Mrs. Cavanaugh, who's tenure as head of the GOP has not been totally free of controversy, says she plans to rejoin the staff of Gov. Bob Riley in a capacity not yet determined. She previously was deputy chief of staff for Riley. Her announcement not to seek another term provoked an immediate announcement from State Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, that he would run for the post. With a ringing endorsement from Gov. Riley, it would seem Hubbard would have a lock on the job when the committee elects a new chairman in February... U. S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, the first woman federal judge in the state, is now the new chief judge for the Northern District of Alabama. Judge Blackburn will succeed Judge U. W. Clemon, who had served in that capacity since 1999. Every seven years a new chief judge is named based on seniority. The new chief judge has impressive judicial and political blood lines. Her father, the late Flournoy (Ick) Lovelace, was an attorney in Brewton and two-term state legislator; her uncle was the late Winton M. (Red) Blount, whose resume includes a term as U. S. Postmaster General in the Nixon Administration... You can be sure that the tragic school bus accident in Huntsville which claimed the lives of four Lee High School co-eds will provoke all manner of legislation relating to school bus safety. Gov. Bob Riley, who visited some of the survivors of the accident last week, said he had ordered the State Department of Transportation to study ways to make buses safer. He specifically mentioned a hard look about the feasibility of buses being equipped with seat belts. There have been a number of national studies which have suggested seat belts can cause more injuries than they prevent, but Riley said he wanted to take another hard look at this matter... This is pure scuttle-butt from Goat Hill so you can take it for what it is worth...but...you can get odds that when the State Senate meets in its organizational session in January that someone other than Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, will be elected to the powerful post of president pro temp.
The word is that even Barron's supporters feel he is too much of a "lightning rod" and that a new face is needed. Be sure that Barron, be he president pro temp of not, will still walk with a big stick.
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