Dems Won the Election Battle, but Lost the Political War in Alabama

From Southern Son:

Well, I missed the election results and Jones won. I underestimated two factors that lead to the Democrats picking up the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. As I related before about a recent conversation with a longtime friend who is very astute to Alabama politics having served as an elected official in state government, he reminded me that “Alabama doesn’t vote for anything, Alabama only votes against things.” Last night Republicans voted against Republicans. Alabamians voted against Roy Moore and Doug Jones. Democrats received the 2nd least amount of votes barely winning the election battle, but lost the political war in Alabama.

While the vote count has not been certified, it is known that write-in votes numbered close to 22,700. Jones’s margin of victory is a little short of 21,000. When Jeff Sessions won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2008 write-in votes made up 0.12 percent of the vote. In Tuesday’s election write in votes represented 1.7 percent of the vote Tuesday. Assuming a majority of those votes would have gone for Moore, the write-in votes shed light on the thinking of Alabama voters. If they did not approve of Moore or his policies for whatever reason, why did Alabama voters not vote for Jones outright and cast write in votes in record numbers? I will concede that the 2008 election was a Presidential election year and it featured Barack Hussein Obama. However; in the 2008 U.S. Senate election, Jeff Session won re-election in which 2,060,191 votes were cast in the Senate race from a population of approximately 4,178,000. Sessions received 1,305,383 and his Democrat challenger 752,391. In the 2018 U.S. Senate special election 1,344,406 votes were cast from a 2016 Census population listed at 4,836,300. Jones received 671,151 votes, Moore received 650,436 votes, and approximately 22,700 write in votes were cast. Voters stayed at home and did not vote for either candidate or policies.

It has been recorded that 96% of the black vote went for Doug Jones. The black community makes up slightly less than 27% of the Alabama population. According to the 2016 U.S. Census, the black community made up 13% of the country’s population. Statistics show that 37% of all abortions performed in this country are among the black community. Theoretically, genocide is being committed by the black community and Planned Parenthood at a near 3-1 margin without factoring in the black-on-black violent crime statistics. So why did the black community vote for Jones? It’s not because of policy and/or issues particularly speaking to abortion. Abortion usually is a definite driver of voter motives in Alabama elections. A recent poll by Pew Research showing nearly 60% of adults in Alabama believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Only 37 percent surveyed believed otherwise. If Alabamians voted on policies and/or issues Moore would have won this race outright because of the abortion issue aside from the allegations of sexual misconduct. The write in vote in part proves that Alabama voters did not approve of Jones’ position(s) on abortion in line with the Pew Research poll.

A gubernatorial election was held in 1986 in Alabama that had more moving parts and accusations than Hillary Clinton’s explanations for why she lost the Presidency. The Democrat primary was claimed to have been rigged, accusations flew, lawsuits filed, the Alabama Supreme Court gave the Democrat Party two options, and Democrats eventually picked a candidate. Voters furiously objected and elected Guy Hunt the first Republican in 113 years since Reconstruction. Hunt won by 13 points and received 56% of the vote, the most votes for a gubernatorial candidate ever at that time. Alabama has had only two Democratic governors since then with only one of them being elected by the people. The other came to office after a conviction and forced resignation of a Republican governor. The same type scenario happened in this election. Animosity from the initial Republican primary between three candidates carried over into this election. Rep. Mo Brooks (R) carried the Huntsville/Madison County area in the initial primary election, but Madison County voted against Roy Moore Tuesday night. With Huntsville’s history with NASA and the Space Program and President Trump’s vow to revive the Space Program, it is hard to believe that area would vote against the President and a Republican Senate candidate. Especially hard to believe because the Space Program had its wings “clipped” by the Democrats and Barack Hussein Obama. Again it was a vote against Moore and not on policies. Mobile County is a usual strong Republican county. In this election Mobile County voted Democrat against Moore. It was a Republican governor that opened the door to Mobile’s growing aviation and shipbuilding (Navy Littoral Combat ship) industry. Again, both industries are priorities of President Trump. Mobile County voted against Moore.

Another tangent along the above line of thinking is that former Gov. Robert Bentley (R) is responsible for this election as stated by my friend. Bentley was under investigation by then state Attorney General Luther Strange. Bentley could have named a Republican dog catcher from a Republican leaning county to replace Jeff Sessions. The dog catcher would have won the Republican primary outright and the general election. Instead, as Alabamians saw it, Bentley and Strange probably cut a deal to stonewall the state’s investigation into Bentley. Bentley then appointed Strange to replace Jeff Sessions. Had Bentley not done so, Alabamians and particularly Republicans would have backed Session’s replacement (assuming the replacement ran for election). Alabamians smelled a rat and that initially led to Roy Moore being a valid contender in the race and beating Strange. Credit must be given to current Gov. Kay Ivey (R) for scheduling the election, not bowing to pressure and playing political shenanigans by rescheduling the election or otherwise. She let the voters decide the election.     

The second factor I underestimated was the dislike of Judge Roy Moore. Moore appeared fairly popular despite his previous theatrics and removal from elected office twice. A respected Alabama pollster that nailed the previous primary election within a half point predicted Moore winning by six in recent polling despite the allegations against him. Undeniably the attacks on Judge Moore by the left, Establishment Republicans and others hurt Moore. The underestimated dislike of Moore was in the Republican Party. Sen. Richard Shelby, sorry I should have said Sen. Dick Shelby (R) from Alabama did not help the Republican Party at all by his holier-than-thou announcement that he wouldn’t vote for Moore, but would write in the name of a respected Republican. Sen. Dick Shelby was ever so ready to endorse Luther Strange even with the cloud of being bribed by former Gov. Bentley hanging over Strange's head. A footnote to the Shelby endorsement of Strange: Strange was part of the Business Council of Alabama and Alabama Power and both heavily supported/financed Shelby over the years. The Alabama Republican Party must, at its next meeting, vote to deny Shelby future ballot access. State Party Chair Terry Lathan stated in a recent interview, “Here is the Party rule on denying ballot access: Denying Ballot Access: This Committee reserves the right to deny ballot access to a candidate for public office if in a prior election that person was a Republican office holder and either publicly participated in the primary election of another political party or publicly supported a nominee of another political party. The provisions of this Rule shall apply for a period of six years after such person so participated. (This rule does not include all of the reasons for denying ballot access.)” While office holders have the right to freedom of speech, they also serve as a representative of the party to which they are registered. The voters elected the candidates in the primary elections of their respective party. If office holders do not wish to support their party’s general election nominee he/she should keep their mouth shut about the nominee in question, switch parties or declare themselves an independent. The write in vote is in part evidence of that dislike of Moore and obviously not an endorsement of Jones.

Sweet Home Alabama loved the Donald and voted overwhelming for him. President Trump’s endorsement of Sen. Luther Strange and Roy Moore did not sway many Alabamians. Many in the liberal news media are already hammering Trump for two losing endorsements in this race. Their doing so shows how out of touch, fake, and too lazy to research the deciding factors of this election were Alabama specific and nothing to do with policy or national politics. The New York news media (liberal and conservative) have always viewed themselves as the all-knowing, intelligentsia, driver of the news narrative that dictates what Americans are to believe and talk about around the dinner table. Not to mention they bear the “innate responsibility” to tell the lowly public, whom they despise and are too dumb to figure out for themselves, who to vote for in various elections. I saw late last night where someone said, “It’s the New South”. The media are pointing out that Alabama is now in play for the Democrats.

Alabama did not change. Alabama voted against both Doug Jones and Roy Moore. Alabama voters did not show up to vote for either Doug Jones or Roy Moore. Republicans voted against Republicans. The candidate that received the least amount of votes lost. The candidate that received the 2nd least amount of votes won, not the candidate that received the most votes per se. Had the Republican Party nominated and whole heartedly supported a palatable candidate the vote would not have been close and Republicans would have maintained the U.S. Senate seat. Republicans shot themselves in both feet this election.

Evidenced by the write in votes Democrats won the election battle, but lost the political war in Alabama.

Southern Son