Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Elections Notes on Alabama

Alabama, which is a heavily Republican state, elected a few Democrats. It will be good to see that the Lt. Governor remains a Democrat. Way to go Jim Folsom, Jr. in a real squeaker. Democrat Sue Bell Cobb won over incumbent Chief Justice Nabors in what was a nasty tit-for-tat campaign for the Alabama Supreme Court. I hope Sue Bell can go back to being that “Steel Magnolia” we saw in the ads—the one who sweetly plays the piano at church on Sunday and then locks the door and throws away the key for the bad guys when she’s judging.

Sadly, our friend Don running for a circuit judgeship in Birmingham, lost 49% to 51% to the incumbent.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is shameful that judges are elected. They should be appointed, as they are on the Federal level.

For a judge to have to go out and raise funds for an election campaign both takes away time which should be spent on the bench (if the person is incumbent) and is beneath the dignity of the office.

I understand that most Southern states elect judges. Some of our neighboring counties even elect school superintendents! That is worse.

Sheila said...

Jay, you are right about the costs associated with running for political office. Seems like if we had designed a system that would ensure that the candidates would be beholding to contributors, lobbyists, fat cats, and shady-dealers it wouldn't have been any different from our present system. Oh in case, you are wondering. I'm for campaign financing reform.