Shocking development out of Alabama. This district has not had a Republican represent it since at least the start of Reconstruction, 1868.
I thought this was coming (not from him as I don’t know who he is) but when I heard that Pelosi had waved off 30-40 Blue Dogs as “transitional seats” that the Libs could afford to lose, it HAD to put some of them to thinking as to just WHAT they are doing in that party.
That may not bode well for him in 2010.
Interesting if this gets reported by the MSM.
They made a big deal when the NY seat went Democrat and it had been held by the GOP for a century as well.
Remember that in Reconstruction the Democrats were the conservatives and the Republicans were the liberals and that was basically the way it was for more than a century. Remained like that in Alabama well in the 90’s.
We now have a situation where the Republicans are the conservatives and the Democrats are the liberals. And honestly, I think that the liberal control of the legislature that has existed for the last couple of decades ends next year.
Words cannot overstate how important this party switch is for us. And anyone who is daring to say “no, thanks” to Griffith knows nothing about Alabama politics and why this party switch is so important for the conservative movement in this state. We’re on the verge of taking back the state after a quarter century in the political wilderness.
I will take him over stinking Newt. I wish for Christmas about 20 Dems would defect to kill ObamaCare. Evil Democrats.
As Darth Vader said to Obi-Wan Kenobi, “the circle is now complete.” The AL-05 had been voting GOP at the presidential level for decades now (albeit never with the types of margins seen in central and southern AL), and now it will finally have a Republican Representative.
Some thoughts:
Couldn’t Griffith do this before I sent $20 to Les Phillip’s campaign? : )
That will be quite the GOP primary in AL-05. I wonder who will run for the RATs.
Is Bobby Bright next? His CD is far more Republican than Griffith’s, and if Griffith could see the writing on the wall, it must be plastered on with red paint for Bright.
Before Griffith’s switch, the Democrats had held the Huntsville seat since March 1869. Democrat Peter Myndert Dox of Huntsville was elected in November 1868 to what even then was the AL-05: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Myndert_Dox
Earlier in 1868, a special election was held in AL (the state had just been readmitted to the Union), and Republican John Benton Callis of Huntsville was elected. Callis served from July 21, 1868 to March 3, 1869. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Benton_Callis
Immediately prior to the Civil War, the district was represented by Huntsville Democrat Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb, who was a Unionist (as were many North Alabamians—some wanted counties in North AL, North GA, East TN and West NC to secede from the Confederacy and form a new state of the U.S.) but who reluctantly withdrew from Congress when AL seceded in 1861. Cobb served from 1847-1861 in what was back then known as the AL-06. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson_Robert_Winfield_Cobb
Prior to Cobb, the Representative for the Huntsville district was Democrat Reuben Chapman, who served from 1835 to 1847. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Chapman Chapman had replaced Democrat Clement Comer Clay, who served from 1829-1835. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Comer_Clay Clay, in turn, replaced Jacksonian (and thus proto-Democrat) Gabriel Moore, who served from the district’s creation in 1823 (prior to that, AL had a single Representative, elected statewide) until 1829. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Moore
So, before today, in the 186-year-old history of the Huntsville-based congressional district in Alabama, it was represented by someone other than a Democrat (or proto-Democrat Jacksonian) for less than 7 and 1/2 months.
Now *taht* is an “ancestrally Democrat” district!
Richard Shelby did the same thing from the same state in 94. But I’m going be skeptical until he shows that he really is a conservative, and not just another infiltrator in the party.