Strangeways here we come

Both of Alabama’s Senators, Republicans Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, today endorsed Luther Strange for Attorney General. 

When asked for comment about the announcement, Luther Strange said “Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me”. 

Remember that after the 2006 election for Lieutenant Governor, Big Luther said “I started something I couldn’t finish”.  Now, with Sessions and Shelby on board this early in the GOP Primary race for Attorney General, the Strange campaign may believe that it’s just “A rush and a push and the land is ours”.

Senator Shelby’s announcement that ”I won’t share you” comes as a blow to Attorney General Troy King, who received $25,000 from Shelby in the 2006 campaign.

Both the Sessions and King camps focused on the voters of Alabama, saying “Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before”:

“The people of Alabama will have to make up their own minds, but I have a high opinion of Luther and I think he would make a fine attorney general,” said Sessions, through a spokesman.

Chris Brown, a spokesman for King’s campaign, said King respects Shelby and Sessions but, “He’d rather get his votes from the voters instead of some people in Washington.”

While this isn’t the “Death of a disco dancer”, it is certainly an “Unhappy Birthday” present for Troy King (his birthday was a few weeks ago).

Some Republicans have been trying to “Paint a vulgar picture” of King:

King also is in a public dispute with Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican, over the spread of electronic bingo in the state.

On the Democrat side, candidates may include Michel Necrosi (”Girlfriend in a coma” – I don’t know her, just fitting the theme)  and  Giles Perkins (”Death at one’s elbow” – all I should need to say about Perkins’ lack of judgment is that he was active in John Edwards campaign).

BTW - Strangeways Here We Come was the fourth and final album from The Smith’s, an influential 80s band many of you have probably never heard (but you should, it was a great band and IMO this was their best album).  Please forgive me for the silly commentary surrounding the song titles, but I couldn’t help myself.  UPDATE:  if you’ve got to explain something too much, then it didn’t go over very well and probably wasn’t funny.  Note that the phrases in quotation marks are the song tracks from the album ‘Strangeways’ – i.e., as far as I know, Michele Necrosi is not the ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ from the song. 

Okay, now for real, this is an “extraordinary” development.  Getting the endorsements of both Republican Senators in the GOP Primary for Attorney General is just… that little extra.

“This is a sign of just how alienated Troy King has become from the Republican establishment,” said David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama. “This is pretty extraordinary.”

I think that Troy King has established a good rapport over the years with ‘rank and file’ Republicans by attending meetings and giving tough on crime speeches.  But this can’t help King – especially since the endorsements were announced so early (and during the Primary).  It will be interesting to see how this affects his fundraising.   However, I’m just really “intrigued” by what might have motivated Shelby and Sessions to endorse Strange over King. 

It is an intriguing development inside the Alabama Republican Party to have the GOP’s two highest-ranking federal officials actively working against an incumbent they helped elect three years ago.

Disclosure: I’ve voted for both Troy King and Luther Strange.