Many will remember that there was a time when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) looked vulnerable. His SUSA numbers were dipping, internal polling showed he was beatable, and a majoirty of Alabamians disapproved of his unwavering support for President Bush and the Iraq War. Not only was Sessions vulnerable, but there was also a viable challenger in Alabama Ag Commissioner Ron Sparks.
However we all know how the rest of this story goes. Sparks considered and declined a challenge to Sessions, explaining his decision as a logical one since he had been told that he could expect substantial primary opposition from State Senator Vivian Figures of Mobile. Sparks believed that it would be impossible for a Democrat to emerge from a divisive primary and then, bloodied and broke, have a decent shot at defeating Sessions.
Since Sparks' announcement in late June, Figures has been seen as dragging her heels in launching a campaign. Figures had planned a campaign announcement for July 14th, but that date came and past without any word from her. However, Figues has now made it official that she plans to challenge Sessions. Considering that she's never held (nor run for) statewide office and is absolutely unknown outside of her district, Figures will have a tough time of it. Most likely, she'll be best remembered as a politician who let her own personal ambition get in the way of Democratic chances of picking up a US Senate seat in the Deep South.
Go Sparks!
We all wanted Sparks to run, but this is way over the top. Sparks dropped out because of “substantial primary opposition” from the “absolutely unknown” state senator??? I never quite understood why he didn’t get in this race – he would have dispatched with Figures in the primary without breaking a sweat, and the primary (if that’s what you want to call this should-have-been-blowout) would have given him a much needed chance to begin organizing and testing his ground game.
We have no chance of winning this seat now, but the only disappointment here is Sparks – he jumped out of the race because he got spooked by a no name state senator that was only the smallest of an obstacle. Figures did nothing wrong, and I would rather have a warm body in the race than somebody too scared to pull the trigger, or even worse, nobody at all.
…I’m pretty sure she’s from Jo Bonner’s district.
And that is Jo Bonner’s district. I had hoped she would decide to run against Bonner this year instead of Sessions.
if I’m not mistaken (and I could very well be) Figures is from Artur Davis’s district. Sense it’s obvious that he wants to be governor, maybe Schumer and the DCCC should work together on this one and suggest she run for that in two years instead of the Senate.
I’m still waiting to see what she hopes to gain from this.
Of picking up a Senate seat in Alabama, and not the fact that its Alabama in a Presidential year?
I know all of you guys were absolutely gung-ho about Sparks, but was their any reason to believe he would have given Sessions a run for his money?
Sparks passed on the Senate race because he really is wants to run for governor in 2010. That was what I thought when he decided not to run. The governor’s race will be an open race in 2010, so he may think he has a better chance to win it.
the governors race in 2008. We could easily draw AL-02 to take in more of the black belt and make it like AL-03 so a Democrat could win it.