Luther Strange defeats George Wallace (Alabama Lt Gov GOP runoff)

Luther Strange, a lawyer and lobbyist making his first bid for elected office, defeated one of the most famous political names in Alabama history in Tuesday's runoff elections to secure the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

Tuesday's outcome might mark the end of the political aspirations of George Wallace Jr., Strange's opponent, who had said he would not seek office again in the event of a defeat.

Wallace is the son of four-term governor and presidential candidate George Wallace and one-term Gov. Lurleen Wallace.

Strange's race against popular Alabama political families will continue in the Nov. 7 general election, when he faces Democrat and former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., who is the son of two-term Gov. "Big" Jim Folsom.

"I think the people really are voting for change in the state, they're voting for the future," Strange said Tuesday night from Birmingham.

A race between Jim Folsom, Jr. and George Wallace, Jr. would have been facinating. Folsom's father and Wallace's father ran against each other in the 1962 Democratic primary for Governor. Also, Wallace won much of rural Alabama but was overwhelmed by Strange in Birmingham and its suburbs. Wallace, Sr. was never popular in the Birmingham area.

I think that Luther Strange said it best. Alabama Republicans decided to vote for the future instead of the past. I predict the same will happen in the general election.

"Wallace, Sr. was never popular in the Birmingham area."

In Sweet Home Alabama, Ronnie Van Zandt (that's the name of the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, right?) sings:

In Birmingham they love the Governor
(Booh, booh, booh)
Now we all did what we could do
Now, Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
(Tell the truth)

I always took that stanza to stand for the proposition that the Lynyrd Skynyrd guys and other progressive Alabamians did what they could to defeat George Wallace, but he was nonetheless reelected, and that their conscience is clear and their love for Alabama didn't waver any more than their love for America didn't waver when they heard about Watergate; the first line implies that Wallace won because he was popular in Birmingham, and the boohs were uttered by the Lynyrd Skynyrd folks. An Alabamian friend of mine agreed with my assessment. However, if what you say is true, then perhaps the line about Wallace being popular in B'ham was meant to be sarcastic, with the boohs depicting how Wallace was received in B'ham, and I would have to rethink the meaning of the entire stanza.

The political base of George Wallace Sr. was the rural counties of central and north-central Alabama. And George Wallace, Jr. ran well in that area, but lost all major urban areas except for Montgomery.

I'll tell you the one thing I'm noticing (with regards to history repeating itself). If Jim Folsom, Jr. manages to win, and the GOP Attorney-General is taken down by Mobile County D.A. John Tyson, Jr., Gov. Riley better watch his back. It was as Lt Gov that Folsom conspired with the 'Rat Attorney-General, Jimmy Evans, to depose Gov. Guy Hunt.

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