Departing north Alabama congressman Bud Cramer has been praised by both Nancy Pelosi and Mike Hubbard.  You don’t see that happen every day.

Cramer is also being coy about who he might support.

U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer doesn’t expect to endorse a successor until after the June primary. And that endorsement, if he makes one, could go to a candidate from either party.

“I do not have a pick,” Cramer said on Friday, one day after he surprised political insiders with an announcement that he would not seek re-election after 18 years in Congress. “I’m going to wait and see.”

Also, additional names that have been mentioned as potential candidates include Huntsville attorney Stan McDonald (R), state Rep. Tammy Irons (D), state Rep. John Robinson, (D), Steve Raby (D), and even Ron Sparks (D).  You can follow the list on the Political Parlor’s AL-05 Big List.

One point I haven’t heard discussed much is how the higher positions on the ballot might affect this race.  For president John McCain should fare well here, with Redstone Arsenal being a huge chunk of the economy, due to his military background.  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will both be portrayed as far left liberals - and I think it will work here - and they will not have the military bona fides to court voters with affiliations to Redstone.  In the senate race Jeff Sessions is most certainly a lock and I seriously doubt that state Sen. Vivian Figures of Mobile will be a magnet for north Alabama Democrats at the polls.  Overall I think the shape of the top ballot races helps the eventual GOP nominee.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Saturday, March 15th, 2008 at 6:01 am and is filed under AL-05 Congressional Race, Rep. Cramer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.