By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
MONTGOMERY–In what can rightly be called a dramatic turnaround, a recent poll by the Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama shows incumbent Gov. Bob Riley with a commanding lead over any of the candidates in the 2006 gubernatorial race.
Riley had a near-landslide lead in the poll over former Chief Justice Roy Moore in the GOP Primary . . . a whopping 44 percent to 25 percent among those who planned to vote Republican.
How would Riley do against either of the leading Democratic nominees-Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and former Gov. Don Siegelman? Again he held commanding leads. He led Baxley in the poll by a 44-33 percent margin and Siegelman by a 45-31 margin
Less than six months ago in a poll conducted by the same firm Baxley had led Riley by a narrow margin.
What is the explanation for this turnaround? Many feel that Riley picked up a lot of strength because of what some called his "gubernatorial" conduct during the recent hurricanes.
Another interesting result from the poll is that Moore not only trailed Riley in a one-on-one contest but he also trailed Baxley (44-37 percent) and finished in a dead heat with Siegelman.
USA political scientist Keith Nicholls, who directed the poll, said Riley was in "a very good position" but cautioned there was plenty of time left for the other candidates to gain momentum.
People who filed for bankruptcy didn't have the scarlet letter "B" burned on their forehead but it was almost that bad.
Not any more. And last week, only days before a new law went into effect, which makes it tougher to file for bankruptcy, there was a tidal wave of bankruptcy filings around the state.
More than 2,000 were filed in the U. S. Bankruptcy Court in Birmingham alone.
A sidebar…one of those filing for bankruptcy in Birmingham was Dr. Phillip Bobo, the Tuscaloosa physician who was a prominent player in the federal investigation of former Gov. Don Siegelman several years ago.
In the wake of a rash of hurricanes which have struck the Gulf Coast, The News posed the question: How long are the taxpayers of this state and nation going to sit by and watch their money be used to rebuild homes and businesses on the Gulf Coast which conceivably will be damaged or destroyed again?
In the aftermath of the recent hurricanes more than once I heard homeowners on the coast respond . . . when asked why they continued to re-build there… "it is the price we pay to live in paradise." They should amend that: It is the price all of us pay for them to live in paradise.
The News' conclusion: People who keep building in the most risky places should be willing to shoulder the risk themselves.
It seems that Charlton Heston, who played Moses in the blockbuster movie "The Ten Commandments," offered to work in Moore's campaign but he has changed his mind after the two men could not agree on who should wear the white robe and carry the tablet.
A volunteer assistant coach of a YMCA Peewee team (12-year-olds) became angry when the mother of one of his star players made him give up football. He went to their home…got into an argument with the mother's boy friend…and then shot him. The wounds fortunately were not life-threatening. Officials of the YMCA (and as you know, the "C" stands for "Christian") were both embarrassed and appalled.