High weirdness in the GOP — so, normal

Robert Bentley campaign former staff members raise questions | al.com.

Okay, so after (apparently, the recount is underway, but his situation looks good) making the runoff in the gubernatorial primary, in a huge surprise, and being in good shape to win it… after that, Robert Bentley fired a bunch of his campaign staff. He brought in non-Alabamians, led by Mike Huckabee’s son-in-law, to fill their roles. I am increasingly of the opinion that he will blow this, and Bradley Byrne will get the nomination.

Alas, poor “Troy”

Yes, “Troy King” has gone down… uh, I mean lost to Luther Strange in the GOP AG nomination race. Pretty badly, it appears. He’ll only have a few more months to execute people for the state before he has to go freelance.

WBRC says…

The Associated Press: Sparks leads Dems for Al. governor; GOP bunched up.

AP has called the race for Sparks. Wow. Can’t find it online yet.

UPDATE:

Rep. Artur Davis loses bid to become first black Ala. governor .

Of course that’s how USA Today has to put it.

Early Returns!

June 1 Primary Election Results – WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |.

Early returns! Five percent in, and St. Roy is in fourth place. Right now, the GOP runoff would be Byrne vs. Bentley, but I still expect Tim James to catch Bentley. Sparks has a big early lead on Davis; in a low-turnout election, the machine help that Sparks had could be determinitive. Luther Strange up early on “Troy King”. And Twinkle! is leading in her PSC race, and could avoid a runoff. Only really bad news is that Dale Peterson is out of the runoff for the GOP Ag Commissioner spot, but it’s early. I know he’s got one more great ad in him.

Predictions

Alabama & National Elections News, Results & Politics – al.com.

The weather’s nice today, so I’m guessing high turnout, which probably is good for Artur Davis on the Democratic side. Hope I’m wrong about that. For the Republicans, Bradley Byrne will get the most votes, but probably less than 40 percent; I’m guessing he’ll meet Tim James in the runoff.

It’s like I don’t know you anymore!

Attorney General Troy King following court’s ruling and handing bingo over to the governor | al.com.

Just because the state supreme court says he’s supposed to! What kind of attorney general just follows the stupid law like that?

King says he’s disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling because it reversed past decisions by the court. He says the state constitution requires that he abide by the court’s decision and he will.

Man, Troy has been so reasonable lately. It’s a comfort that his TV ads remain absolutely insane, like the one where he strongly suggests that Luther Strange is a terrorist sympathiser. (Unfortunately, I can’t find it online.)

Debit where it’s due

Birmingham to close some libraries, rec centers | Second Front.

This is obviously close to my heart as a librarian and (before that) a library rat in the Jefferson County libraries. But for goodness sake, William Bell is trying to be the grownup here. This is the fault of Crazy Larry with his insane spending spree and the City Council which enabled it. The council president is still doing it — he wants to “raise more revenue”. In other words, raise taxes. During a very mild recovery from a very deep recession in a city that’s been economically declining for my entire life. I am not at all happy about the (putatively temporary) library closings, but there’s little choice in the matter here.

Uh… thanks?

The Associated Press: Turkish PM visits troubled Greece, backs arms cuts.

Considering that they’ve been fighting longer than anyone except Iraq and Iran, I’m not sure that if I was Greek I’d be that wild about Turkish support. But that’s just me.

Note that the PM of Turkey is named “Recep Tayyip Erdogan”. If you rearrange the letters of this name, you get, “A Cad Eyeing Property”. Nobody tell the Greeks this.

Congratulations to the Polk County Police Department!

Woman suffers heart attack during botched drug raid  | ajc.com.

Another triumph in the War on Defenseless Old People Drugs!

“These were considered high-risk warrants,” Dodd said. “These individuals are known drug dealers and they were looking at a lot of time in federal prison, so obviously, when we serve those types of warrants, we usually go in with guns drawn just to protect ourselves.”

Yeah, those 76-year-old women are deadly.

That’s our Roy!

Alabama Gov. Candidate Attacked for Belief in Evolution – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.

So, of course, Bradley Byrne begins the race to the bottom by saying that of course he doesn’t believe in the foundation of modern biology. Then St. Roy will attack him for any suggestion that the Earth is more than 6,014 years old. Then Tim James will say that he believes God actually physically sculpted Adam out of clay.