The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Alabama Voters Reject Griffith, Davis

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The Spectacle Blog

Alabama Voters Reject Griffith, Davis

By Robert Stacy McCain on 6.2.10 @ 10:59AM

Coming out of Tuesday's primaries, the big headline at the New York Times is that Rep. Artur Davis lost his bid to become Alabama's first black governor, being defeated in the Democratic primary by state agriculture commissioner Ron Sparks.

The basic problem for Davis was that he ran a general-election campaign in the Democratic primary. Davis voted against ObamaCare and, when I traveled to Alabama in February and covered a gubernatorial candidate forum in Montgomery, I was struck by how conservative Davis's rhetoric was. Sparks ran as a liberal populist, and got endorsed by the major black political organizations in the state.

In the Alabama 5th District Republican primary, meanwhile, party-switcher Parker Griffith lost badly to Madison County commissioner Mo Brooks. Griffith's change from "D" to "R" did not placate the district's conservative voters and enraged local Democrats, prompting an unusual bipartisan grassroots protest when House Republican leader John Boehner came to Huntsville for a Griffith fundraiser.

The GOP establishment also got a shock in Alabama's 2nd District, where the National Republican Congressional Committee's hand-picked candidate Martha Roby failed to get a majority in the primary and will face a July 13 runoff against Tea Party-backed candidate Rick Barber.

topics:
Election 2010

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

democratsarefascists| 6.2.10 @ 1:49PM

1. Anti-Israel activists never tell the truth.

2. Anti-Israel activists spread spam and propaganda in forums they don't belong in.

Tim K.| 6.2.10 @ 1:27PM

Alabama Governor - Republicans would win race regardless of whom the Democratic Nominee turned out to be.

Alabama's 2nd district - Roby won 48% of the vote. That's not a shock; she'll win the runoff probably with 55% of the vote.

Alabama's 5th district - Republicans needed to support Griffith; we need to welcome Right-Of-Center Democrats into the Party, not toss their ass out. Thankfully they never did that to Sen. Shelby.

eyesopen| 6.2.10 @ 1:52PM

And yet Steele and the rest of the RINOs WILL NOT LEARN!

It's simple. Stop spending GOP money on candidates who aren't conservative. We won't vote for them.

Sheri| 6.2.10 @ 3:12PM

I don't know where the author is getting information, but Artur Davis is not conservative, and he never had a prayer of becoming Alabama's next governor.