2008 Primary Results
Posted by BrianAL-05 (100% reporting)
Parker Griffith has the Democrat nomination sewn up with about 90% of the vote. David Maker pulled in twice what I expected with 10%.
In the Republican race Wayne Parker won 49% of the vote, which will trigger a runoff. Cheryl Baswell Guthrie led the remaining five candidates with 18% of the vote. If Guthrie had an ounce of dignity or any respect for the party she would concede. There is no way - NO WAY - that she will win a runoff with Parker. All she’ll do by prolonging her futile vanity campaign is harm Parker’s chances against a very strong Democrat adversary.
Side notes on the race…
- David Maker received 3,874 votes, which is more than Ray McKee, George Barry, or Mark Huff. Ouch.
- Cheryl Baswell Guthrie got 6,941 votes. That’s about $70 per vote.
- There were 38,415 votes cast for the two Democrat candidates, but only 37,934 cast for the six Republicans. This is a very bleak sign for the Republicans. There was little motivation for Dems to come out and vote for Griffith, who was a shoe in. The Republican race was a great deal more wide open, which should have resulted in a strong turnout - and they still got out voted by the Dems.
- Every FairTax candidate finished behind candidates who did not support the FairTax.
Madison County (99% reporting)
The sales tax increase got shot down, as expected. 64% opposed the tax hike and 36% supported it. I’m predicting we haven’t heard the last word on this. The county commission can still vote to implement this sales tax at any time. I’ve heard murmurings about certain county commissioners possibly voting to pass it shortly after the November election with the expectation that voters will have forgotten after four more years.
County Commission, District 1: Bob Long beat Chris Stuckey 67% to 33%. Both were really solid candidates; I’m surprised to see such a large margin.
County Commission, District 2: Faye Dyer won handily in a tough three person race with 58% of the vote. I’m particularly pleased with this result; Dyer has demonstrated strong leadership in the fight against the half cent sales tax increase. Glenn Watson only pulled in 22%. Who knows how this race would have shaped up if it weren’t for the homeless shelter fiasco. Will Watson stick to his pledge to not seek re-election for his HSV city council seat? He has until July 15th to decide.
County Commission, District 5: Mo Brooks cruised to victory over Bobby Abernathy with 79% of the vote. Brooks is a reliable conservative and ethical leader - no surprise to see him keep a lock on this seat.
County Commission, District 6: Bob Harrison cruised to victory with 74%.
U.S. Senate (97% reporting)
Jeff Sessions and Vivian Figures cruised to victory so that Sessions can smack her down in the general. 14% of Dems voted for Mark “No NCAA” Townsend. That is crazy.
Alabama PSC (98% reporting)
Republican stalwart Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh failed to get through the three person race without a runoff, which is a result that had been characterized in advance as “underwhelming.” She did pull in 47% of the vote, but will have to best Matt Chancey, who won 28%.
State Board of Education (99% reporting)
The candidates propped up by the AEA in an attempt to take control of the board got slaughtered. District 1 incumbent Randy McKinney dispatched Paul Christopher 73% to 27% and in District 3 Stephanie Bell trounced Troy Smithwick 68% to 32%. Alabama educators: I hope you’re happy with the way Czar Hubbert spent your confiscated dues on losing candidates so he could try to preserve fake, cushy jobs for legislators.
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June 4th, 2008 at 1:27 am
About the District 1 race: riding around the District, I didn’t see any Chris Stuckey signs, I saw plenty of Bob Long signs. To me, a sign equals a voter. I’m a big believer in yard signs.
I hope that Stuckey decides to run for another office - I like his energy and approach to Government.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Glenn Watson still claims he is done with the city council.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:58 am
[...] as I suggested last night, the county commission can still impose the sales tax despite the lopsided defeat. I’m just [...]
June 10th, 2008 at 1:02 am
RE: Every FairTax candidate finished behind…
I’m a huge FairTax supporter.
Unfortunately, none of the FairTax candidates were acceptable.
George Barry - An anti-trade isolationist and North American Conspiracy Theorist. Ron Paul supporters flock to Barry. ‘Nuff said.
Mark Huff - Too little info available on his positions even from his simplistic website. I judged his campaign as amateurish and too green. Maybe with more experience he’ll be a viable candidate.
Ray McKee - I liked Ray the most of the three. However, I found his anti-trade position unacceptable and his interpretation of Constitutional amendments laughable. You’d expect a lawyer to understand that amendments need not start in Congress but must eventually achieve ratification by 2/3rds of both houses. McKee also seemed weak on victory in Iraq. Finally, his ability to only raise $15k indicates funding a general election run would be problematic.
Based on these issues I voted for Wayne Parker. His comments on the FairTax seemed out of ignorance rather than informed. Certainly not the perfect candidate but I agreed with most of his positions and showed ability to raise enough funds for the general. Hopefully he’ll come around on the FairTax.
I considered Guthrie for awhile until her negative campaign against Wayne Parker. Based on her repeated and demonstrably false claims against Parker I will never vote for her, period.
I wrote off Mancuso due to lack of available info. What little I found I didn’t like…like anti-trade.
-Rusty B.