All eight candidates for Alabama’s fifth congressional district participated in a candidate forum last night on WHNT.

First of all, other than David Maker (who faces longer odds than the proverbial snowball in Hell) there really isn’t that much difference between all the different candidates.  Democrats will line up resolutely behind Parker Griffith, but Maker aligns much more closely with their party’s platform.

I’m just going to come out and say it, if Parker Griffith keeps staking out typically Republican positions on certain issues then he’s going to be our next representative.  He stated that he was both pro-life and willing to drill for oil in ANWR.  Not exactly core tenets of the national Democrat party.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if he sat he was packing heat to play to the NRA crowd.  I know liberal Democrats want more power, but if they keep recruiting more conservative (or less liberal, depending on your point of view) members how long will it be before those individuals begin wresting away control of the party?

I thought David Maker seemed inebriated most of the evening, but he came alive to really zing Parker Griffith.  I was expecting the candidates to really dig at their opponents during the candidate Q&A, but only Maker really threw a punch.  He called out Parker Griffith for two of his votes as a state legislator (the biggest chink in Griffith’s armor).  He asked Griffith about his votes to give all legislators a pay raise (effective immediately) and give them - remember, they’re part time employees - taxpayer funded health insurance.  Griffith hemmed and hawed, but didn’t have - couldn’t have - a good retort.

On the Republican side no one really stood out.  Wayne Parker seemed nervous early in the forum, providing halting, drifting answers.  Once he got his feet under him he gave a solid performance.  He gets high marks for calling for the elimination of the Dept. of Education - a never fulfilled promise from the 1994 Republican revolution he almost was a part of - and giving the right answer on term limits.  Term limits sound great and I like the theory.  But, term limits can force out both good and bad legislators.  We should always default to choice and if I choose to vote for a 20 term congressman then so be it.

After it was all said and done I still haven’t figured out who I’m going to cast my ballot for.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 10:59 am and is filed under AL-05 Congressional Race. 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.