"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.