I see Luther Strange knocked off Troy King, too. It’s just very hard to see the state turning back to the bad old days of Dems winning statewide offices. In the ‘80s, you could still have center-right guys winning Dem primaries, but not anymore. The state parties are becoming a reflection of the national, moving further and further left (up here in TN, there was expected to be a highly contested Dem Gubernatorial primary, but the Dems all dropped out except for the son of a prior Dem Governor, their collective conclusion is that the Dems simply can’t win the office this year). The GOP is moving to being the reflexive majority party, and only unless a statewide candidate is seriously flawed will they lose. That’s why I expect a near across-the-ballot sweep. If we don’t knock off Folsom, I don’t know what he thinks he’s going to do. He couldn’t win the Governorship. I just hope we at least claim the State Senate and strip him of his powers if he does manage to win again (like what the Dems did to Steve Windom).
BTW, your Coakley example, it’s well worth pointing out she is running again for reelection in MA, and apparently won’t even have a GOP opponent. Although AL is nowhere near as pro-GOP as MA is pro-Dem, I wouldn’t dismiss Ivey’s chances. Look at 2006 when even the most flawed of Dem incumbents got swept in, and 2010 might similarly sweep in or hold flawed GOP incumbents and challengers nationwide.
I’ll tell you something. I think this is his last run. He won’t let let himself get beat by someone as hated as Kay Ivey but I do think its his last run.
The Democratic nomination could have been his without question this year. He didn’t run. He chose the easy race of Lt. Governor where he didn’t have an opponent and where his staying kept all good candidates out on our side. The fact that he chose the easy race/guaranteed race over the slugfest that the governor’s race was tells me that Folsom is now more concerned with legacy than any actual power and wants to be remembered in Alabama history without as many of the negative points his daddy had.
I think Folsom wants four years as Lt. Governor where he is beholden to no one and can be a bridge builder and then ride back off into Cullman to play with the grandkids.