Breaking news from the AL-GOP meeting in Montgomery:
Members of the Alabama Republican Party Candidate Subcommittee voted Saturday to not allow District 29 State Senator Harri Anne Smith on the GOP primary ballot in June.
Parker Griffith can run on their ballot, no problem. I'll bet some grassroots sorts at both ends of the state will be mad about this.
This is today's press release from state Senator Harri Anne Smith:
My Endorsement of Bobby Bright
October 21, 2008
Dear Friend,
I endorsed Mayor Bobby Bright yesterday at the kickoff to his America First Truck Tour. I endorse Bobby wholeheartedly because I believe that he has the conservative values and experience needed to represent the 2nd Congressional District and Alabama in Congress. I know he will have the judgment and ability to bring jobs and opportunity, and to save Ft. Rucker!
A few short months ago I was the target of Jay Love's shameful dishonest smear campaign. Jay is now attacking Bobby with outright lies. I think that it's time to put party politics aside for this race and choose a representative based on his personal qualifications and integrity.
Please join me in sending an honest man to congress. His Ad "Rally" will show you what the people of Montgomery think about his ability to get the job done! Click here to view "Rally" on Youtube
You can help him keep his positive message out there. He needs the money to fight Jay Love's smears & he needs the money for radio, for direct mail and for television.
Please join with us, and send us $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can give to fight against Jay Love's desperate attempts to tear another man down! Contribute Now
Sincerely,
Sen. Harri Anne Smith
Not just an endorsement from Harri Anne Smith, but a fundraising plea as well.Here's the "Rally" ad:
Great ad. I wish Parker Griffith (AL-05) would use Bobby Bright's media consultant. Transcript:
(Bright) What I care about is the people of Alabama.
Washington won't change Bobby Bright.
He gets things done
He brought us the Renaissance Center, the baseball stadium and the riverfront development.
(Bright) We've changed this city.
Look what he's done for Montgomery.
Bobby actually fought the drug company.
(It's not about being a Republican or a Democrat, it's about being an American
I am a Republican but I'm voting for the man for this race.
He's honest, hard working, gets things done.
When Bobby tells you something, you can literally take it to the bank.
(Bright) I'm Bobby Bright and I approved this message and I will never forget where I came from.
NOTE: A version of this was first posted at Daily Kos. Therefore, many of the explainers below might seem unnecessary to an Alabamian. Of course, many North Alabamians know about as much (or little) about the Wiregrass as many Southeast Alabamians know about, say, Monte Sano State Park or Werner von Braun.
"Republican State Senator Harri Anne Smith joined fellow mayor and democrat Bobby Bright as he kicked off his 16 county 'Truck Tour' of the district before the November 4th election.
"Smith said she knows that brights heart is with the Wiregrass and that he represents the region well.
"'I Knew that his heart was here in the Wiregrass and the fact that through this campeign he has not thrown rocks and stones at the republican party ...he has tried to bring people together.'
"Bright compared the across the aisle endorsement to that of former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his endorsement of Barack Obama on Sunday. . . "
Pass the popcorn because there's an entertaining show playing down in the Wiregrass. Others here have first hand knowledge of the star players, but I just have to throw out a couple of remarks about state Sen. Harri Anne Smith's endorsement of Democrat Bobby Bright for Congress in Alabama's second district.
First off, Jay Love has now demonstrated that he has zero political skills. If he can't build bridges to his Republican primary opponent, how the heck is he going to work effectively with the Democratic majority in Congress should he be elected? The short answer is that he won't be effective, costing his district dearly as the next round of budget cuts come down the pike. Subway Jay is a creature schooled in the divide and conquer Republican philosophy and he lacks the political skills required to work across the aisle. He is not magnanimous either in victory or in defeat. Attack is the only tool in his box and it won't be enough to get anything done in the next Congress.
Second, Love's snub of Harri Anne Smith after defeating her in the runoff, coupled with the Alabama Republican Party's determination to effectively kick her out of the party -- Chairman Mike Hubbard has indicated she won't be allowed on the ballot as a Republican in the future -- could break up the Republican hold on the Wiregrass. Kicking successful office-holders out of the party is a crazy-ass strategy and I surely hope Hubbard sticks to his guns. If Bobby Bright wins on November 4 and Harri Anne Smith is re-elected as an Independent in 2010 that corner of the state would be looking purple if not downright bluish.
As in all politics, it’s about the posturing and the money. If Bright, indeed, is successful as a conservative Democrat, then other so-called independent conservatives who slip over to the D side of the ballot will bring with them some conservative dollars.
Hardcore Republicans, who have stuck with the party and built it into a powerhouse, want those dollars to win. They want the posture. They seek the position that being a Republican will bring them.
It’s the cracks that begin to appear when those “mavericks” start talking about “crossing the aisle.”
It’s a danger for the solid GOP built up by Nixon’s plan to win his second term through his Southern strategy — the neocons.
Harri Anne Smith's campaign must be breathing a sigh of relief over this:
The president of Americans for Tax Reform is defending state Rep. Jay Love in the Republican runoff for the 2nd Congressional District.
The president of ATR is none other than Grover Norquist, famous for this little gem:
What they drowned was an American city, with over 1500 casualties. The second congressional district is pretty darn close to the Gulf of Mexico -- frequent source of damaging hurricanes -- for politicians to be embracing Norquist's view of the proper role of government, his own version of "Every man for himself.".
Need a highway? Let corporate interests build it and charge you to use it.
Want to be sure that imported toy/pet food/fish isn't toxic? Buy a test kit because the government isn't checking.
Need to know what kind of tomatoes are making Americans sick? Sorry, the government doesn't have the manpower to track and inspect produce.
Grover Norquist's endorsement is nothing to crow about. Here's what some other folks have said about him:
Norquist is “the V.I. Lenin of the anti-tax movement.” – Columnist Paul Gigot, Wall Street Journal, 04/14/1994
“You can wear too many hats and [Norquist] does. He’s a whole hat store. And that’s the conflict of interest: He’s head of a non-profit. He’s a corporate lobbyist. He’s a foreign lobbyist. This gives nonprofits, which are supposed to be doing research, a bad name.” – Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity. New York Times, 06/08/1997
Tucker Carlson once called Norquist a "mean-spirited, humorless, dishonest little creep ... the leering, drunken uncle everyone else wishes would stay home."
It's worth pointing out that Grover has been wrong about elections, too. Check out this quote from 2004:
The modern Democratic Party cannot survive the reelection of President George W. Bush and another four years of Republican control of both Congress and the White House.
No brag. Just fact.
In case you missed the 2006 election, Democrats kicked Republicans out of the leadership in the House and the Senate and picked up the governor's office in 6 states. 2008 is looking good for Democrats too, with Republican leaders busily predicting how many seats their party will lose. If I were Jay Love I'd worry that Grover's getting it wrong again.
Jay Love, Republican congressional candidate in the 2nd district, makes much of the fact that he is a conservative Christian. He puts those words on his website:
Love stated, “This is proof positive of the strength of our campaign and its message of conservative Christian change. It is humbling to receive the financial support of so many individuals who are concerned about the direction of our country and how their next Congressman can affect change in Washington.”
Meanwhile, Love issued a written statement Wednesday saying he felt his Christian faith was being attacked in Smith’s latest radio spot, adding the “personal attacks” needed to stop.
Imagine my surprise to find out that the Conservative Christians of Alabama haven't endorsed Jay Love. They actually endorse Harri Anne Smith, his opponent, see below. Can it be that wearing your faith on your sleeve while campaigning is offensive to conservative Christian voters?
Vote Conservative - Encourage People in your church to Vote the Liberals Out
Alabama Conservative Endorsements
Vote in July 15 Run Off
Matt Chancey - Alabama Public Service Commissioner
How ugly is the Republican runoff in Alabama's 2nd District? So ugly that Bob Riley and Terry Everett are asking the combatants to clean up their act.
Everett said the "intra-party split must end" and said the candidates should spend the remaining week focusing on the issues important to the nation and to the district. He said voters need to hear the candidates' vision.
...
"To that end, I am calling for both candidates to immediately take down their negative ads, which are actually instruments of personal destruction for the sake of a political win, and instead focus on the issues," Everett said.
...
During a press conference this morning on another issue, Riley said he hoped the candidates would turn away from the contentious tone of the race. He did not ask them to take down ads including video or pictures of him..
Everett, the current Congressman from AL-02, understands that Love and Smith are practicing the politics of "personal destruction for the sake of a political win" rather than explaining what they hope to accomplish and how they would behave if elected. Why is this a surprise? The politics of personal destruction has become the backbone of Republican campaigns, pioneered by the likes of Lee Atwater, Roger Ailes and Karl Rove. It's usually coupled with the permanent political campaign -- once this crowd gets in office the focus is on getting re-elected, not on governing. Every decision is a political calculation which leaves no room whatsoever for leadership. It's great for the political consultants and junkies, a disaster for constituents.
No one should be surprised that Love and Smith are throwing all the mud in the pigpen at each other ... they've grown up in a Republican party where that kind of behavior is rewarded. By now, voters are sick of it, even in Alabama.
They're spending a lot of Republican money down in Alabama's 2nd Congressional district, trying to decide if Rep. Jay Love or Sen. Harri Anne Smith should represent their party on the November ballot. That's fine by me -- less Republican money left to spend on other races, like the Alabama courts, for instance.
Anyway, it has devolved into a sort of he said/she said kind of argument played out in tv and radio ads. Unless you live in or near the district you probably don't know just what those ads are like because the candidates aren't making them available online -- that tells you they aren't too proud of what they're saying. Truth be told, everyone involved is probably hoping their mothers and aunts aren't listening.
The main issue for these two Goopers is taxes -- who voted for what tax vs. who opposed it -- like how public servants invest tax revenue for the public good is completely irrelevant or something. I know Republicans want to shrink government down to where it's small enough to drown in a bathtub -- and make it incompetent enough to deserve it, too -- so the tax spat in itself is not surprising. But get this reaction from Jay Love:
But, the ad that troubles Love the most is a radio spot because it gets personal. "There's a radio ad right now kind of questioning my Christianity." The beginning of the radio spot says, "He claims he's a Christian conservative. The truth is Jay Love is not conservative at all." Love had a strong reaction to that commercial. "I think that's out of bounds. That's personal attack in my mind. What hurts is and what's disappointing is it's coming from another republican." Smith says that's not the message of her ad at all. "I question whether he really is a conservative - not a Christian. I would never, never question anybody's faith."
Jay Love's advertising identifies him as a Christian conservative -- no problem there. Harri Anne Smith's ad reminds voters of that and then says he's "not conservative at all." How does Love get "questioning my Christianity" and "personal attack" out of that? If Jay Love is that thin-skinned he has no business serving Alabama in the House of Representatives where the big boys and big girls make laws. Or maybe he's confusing conservatism with religion -- just as wrong-headed in someone seeking to make law for the entire country.
I know it's only (late) Monday, but I hereby nominate Jay Love, Republican Congressional candidate in AL-02, for the Whiney Ass Titty Baby of the week award.
Things are quiet up here in the 5th district, but Jay Love and Harri Anne Smith are mixing it up pretty good down in the 2nd. First it was the dueling tax ads, now Harri Anne's media advisors have dragged Gov. Riley into the mud -- or at least video of him.
The ad, which began airing over the weekend, accuses Love of catering to oil companies when he helped vote down Riley's proposal earlier this year to sharply raise taxes on offshore natural gas wells.
It uses footage from a video news release Riley produced in March and blends it with other material to suggest that Riley is personally criticizing Love.
"When you put the interests of big oil over the people of Alabama..." Riley says in the ad before a narrator interrupts and says: "Who did? Jay Love did. With big oil reporting billions of dollars in profits and continuing to increase the price of gasoline, Jay Love voted against making big oil pay their fair share."
"What they did is unconscionable," Riley continues before the narrator ends with, "Jay Love: higher taxes and gas prices for you, tax breaks for big oil."
It looks enough like the governor is taking Love to task that Bob Riley felt the need to reiterate that he is not officially endorsing either Love or Smith in the runoff.
The bill discussed in the ad concerned a natural gas surtax that would have hit Exxon/Mobil hard. Love voted to kill it in committee - big surprise. Although her ad criticises Love for that vote, Smith has declined to state how she would have voted if the bill had made it to the Senate floor. That makes the contrast less effective, but I guess it keeps the door open for some Big Oil money if she makes it to the general election -- or for some Big Oil money to her state Senate campaign if she doesn't.
Not much. From Politico we hear that Republican Congressional hopefuls are being advised to distance themselves from their party this year:
A new playbook for House Republicans urges them to run essentially as independents, showing empathy for voters, emphasizing local issues and ignoring many traditional party campaign practices.
The advice for House candidates is part of an effort to minimize Republican losses in a year when voters are exasperated by the economy, the Iraq war and President Bush:
“Encourage Republican candidates to establish themselves in a personal manner, emphasizing local issues whenever possible.”
It may be this desire to "emphasize local issues whenever possible" that has led Jay Love and Harri Anne Smith into a mud wrestling match over who was more supportive of a Republican sponsored tax plan that failed 5 years ago. I guess it's local, but it's no longer relevant and the Republican runoff in AL-02 has now devolved into a silly, "No, I didn't! Yes, you did!" shouting match.
Jay Love, of course, needs something to distract voters' attention from the fact that Washington Republicans are solidly behind him with their checkbooks open. Having them on your side is the kiss of death this year and GOP leaders know it. The obstructionist behavior of Congressional Republicans is one reason only 34% of people in a recent survey would vote for the Republican in a Congressional race. Love's best shot is to make people forget he's a Republican -- running against Bob Riley's tax proposal seems to be the method he has chosen to do that.
The wild card in all this is that mostly Republicans will vote in the Republican primary and running away from the party will cut no ice with the party faithful. Do they hate taxes -- even old ones that never became law -- more than they like Bob Riley?
Danny at the Political Parlor linked to these new ads from AL-02 rivals Harri Anne Smith and Jay Love. They leave no doubt that both are conservative Christians -- next ad they'll probably have crucifix lapel pins -- and taxes, the ultimate evil, are all they care about.
Harri Anne's ad:
Jay Love's ad:
I particularly like the "Nasty, negative attacks -- it's wrong!"
I ran across this study on the Growing Partisan Gap Among Women in Congress, by Laurel Elder of Hartwick College. It's very interesting in light of Congressional races going on right now in Alabama. As you recall, there are two Republican runoffs underway, each involving a male and female candidate: Harri Anne Smith vs. Jay Love in AL-02 and Cheryl Baswell Guthrie vs. Wayne Parker in AL-05.
Here are the passages I found most relevant to our local races, all emphasis is mine. From the Abstract:
Twenty years ago, women in Congress were equally likely to be Republicans or Democrats. Today, Republicans form only 30 percent of the women in Congress and are on track to continue decreasing as a share of women in the Senate and House. Why has this partisan gap emerged?
When trends in women's Congressional representation are broken down by party a very different picture emerges, revealing that the slowed progress is a function of Republican women only. For most of the 20th century, the progress of Republican and Democratic was roughly parallel (Martin 2001; King and Matland 2006, 120-122). As Figure 1 shows, this starts to change in the 1990s when the progress of Democratic women continued at a strong rate, while the progress of Republican women slowed significantly. Over the last decade, the gains of Democratic women have tripled those of their Republican counterparts. The 2006 midterm elections magnified this trend: Democrats emerged from the election with 9 additional women, while Republicans emerged with 3 fewer. As of 2007, there is a 40 percentage point Democratic advantage among the women of Congress: 70 percent are Democrats while only 30 percent are Republicans.
As of 2007, the South is the only region of the country where Republican women outnumber Democratic women both in terms of absolute numbers and as a percentage of their party's lawmakers.
Despite this, there are compelling reasons to believe the realignment in the South is contributing to the partisan gap by dampening opportunities for Republican women. The South remains less welcoming than any other region of the country to women in elective office (Fox 2006; Norrander and Wilcox 2005). This means that the biggest opportunities for Republican gains over the past two decades have been in the area most hostile to women's candidacies. Nor does the state legislative pipeline look promising. As of 2005, women formed on average only 12 percent of Republicans in southern state legislatures (Elder 2005). Moreover, it is possible that as the Republican party becomes more southern, its culture will become more conservative and less welcoming to women's candidacies.
If the Republican party wants to slow the growth of the partisan gap, let alone close the gap, it will need to dramatically increase recruitment efforts of women candidates at both the state and national level. Unlike the Democratic party, Republicans cannot rely on a vigorous group of independent organizations to recruit women for them.
So, Republican women are not being elected to Congress at the same rate as Democratic women, Republicans are becoming more Southern where the culture is not welcoming to women's candidacy and Republicans will have to dramatically increase recruitment of women candidates to turn this trend around -- which is not happening. You can see that in Alabama as the Republican party, unofficially but effectively, is getting behind the male candidate in both AL-02 and AL-05.
Although it doesn't constitute official NRCC backing, this sounds like the fix is in for Love:
WASHINGTON — Republican leaders in Washington will throw their support behind Alabama state Rep. Jay Love's bid for Congress this week, signaling that the party views him as a better candidate than state Sen. Harri Anne Smith to beat Democrat Bobby Bright in November.
Nearly the entire Republican U.S. House leadership is slated to help host a $500-per-ticket fundraiser for Love on Wednesday, according to an invitation to the event. The list includes House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, GOP Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma.
In AL-05, there's no sign that Washington Republicans are involved yet, but local Republican party officials have criticized Cheryl Baswell Guthrie, even calling her a liar at a press conference.
Just three days before the primary election, the local Republican Party chairman is asking District 5 congressional candidate Cheryl Baswell Guthrie to "stop lying" about opponent Wayne Parker in her advertising.
Madison County GOP Chairman John Noel, who has contributed $250 to Parker and whose daughter volunteers in Parker's campaign, held a press conference Friday afternoon to chastise real estate attorney Guthrie for telling "definite lies" about Parker, an insurance executive and former lobbyist.
Although two Republican women made it to a runoff in Alabama Congressional races, don't hold your breath for either of them to make it further. As Laurel Elder predicted, the Southern Republican party is not welcoming to their efforts.
There's a good deal of talk in the blogosphere and elsewhere about an AL-02 poll commissioned by Jay Love's campaign. If you recall, Love and Harri Anne Smith are in a runoff for the Republican nomination, and the poll shows him with a big (60% to 32%) lead. That in itself is not surprising enough to generate all this talk -- after all Love finished the primary way ahead of Smith. The buzz is all about whether this is a legitimate poll that just included some message testing or a push poll.
An Ozark resident who got a call clearly thought it was a push poll:
Grissett, who said he supports the Congressional campaign of Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said he received a phone call at his home last week asking him to participate in a survey.
Grissett said the questioning began with general questions about the Republican party.
"Then it just got deeper and deeper into negativism about Harri Anne," Grissett said. "I just finally hung up."
Grissett said he believed the poll was designed to reflect favorably on Smith's opponent in the upcoming Congressional runoff, State Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery.
Harri Anne Smith has "retooled" her campaign, bringing State Sen. Scott Beason (R, Gardendale) on board as an advisor. This is no surprise since she obviously didn't perform as well as she wanted to in last week's primary, but it's disappointing news for those of us who have followed her campaign closely (emphasis mine):
Senator Beason brings with him Southern Insights, the Birmingham based political consulting firm, owned by Chris Brown and Paul Glass. The two have a 20 year track record of political success across Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. Rob Autry of the nationally recognized firm of Public Opinion Strategies of Virginia will conduct the polling, and Sonny Scott of Anthem Media in Nashville will advise and handle visual media.
I guess we're unlikely to see more entertaining ads like this one featuring ungrateful sheiks and $6 a gallon milk. Damn, it was fun while it lasted!
ANTHEM MEDIA/R -- MEDIA Ed Bryant, TN, U.S. Sen. Lp Allen McColluch, NM, U.S. Sen. W/L Chuck Blasdel, OH, H06 W/L Max Burns, GA, H12 W/L* Mac Collins, GA, H08 W/L* David McSweeney, IL, H08 W/L Ralph Norman, SC, H05 W/L Van Taylor, TX, H17 W/L Casey Cagle, GA, Lt. Gov. W/W
I like that record. Lp means lost primary; W/L means won primary, lost general; W/W means won primary and general; * means the general election was competetive.
Terry Everett has emptied out his PAC and closed it down, but he didn't give anything to the Republican candidates trying to succeed him in AL-02.
But Everett last fall announced he was retiring, so the leadership PAC started cutting checks. It sent $15,580 to other House Republicans, none of them from Alabama; $6,600 to Senate Republican candidates including Jeff Sessions; and $3,300 to Rep. Duncan Hunter's run for the presidency.
As the article points out, Everett still has about $814 K in his campaign account and he can use that to boost his successor if he wants to. The potential successors on the Republican side, Harri Anne Smith and Jay Love, are still locked in a runoff competition that won't be over until mid-July.
Contrast this with the situation in the 5th District where the retiring Bud Cramer has already endorsed Parker Griffith and thrown his support -- and many of his supporters -- behind him. Party unity is helpful.
(The ad is for Harri Anne Smith. I still have a big problem with the assertion that Middle Eastern billionaire sheiks should show us some gratitude. Foreign policy does not operate on gratitude, even if they felt any, which I doubt. - promoted by mooncat)
I confess that I am reading between the lines of this Dothan Eagle story, but bear with me. Can it be that last week's Senate meltdown where they adjourned with no Education Budget and caused hundreds of Alabama teachers to be layed off, is proving unpopular with voters in the 2nd Congressional District? Further, is it possible that, while campaigning over the Memorial Day weekend, State Sen. Harri Anne Smith heard complaints about her vote to keep the debate going and run the Legislature's clock out? I put this theory forward because Smith seems to be trying to recast her vote against cloture in a more favorable light, almost as a heroine:
According to Smith, the budget was dead regardless of her vote because Sen. Jim Preuitt had threatened to insist on a full reading of the bill if debate ended, which would have run out the clock on the regular session.
“So really, a vote for cloture would have definitely killed the session,” Smith said. “The only hope was not to cloture and to try to get things worked out. But, as it got closer to midnight, I saw that the parties were not going to agree.”
So Preuitt held her hostage? She made a superhuman effort, even resorting to the jujutsu move of voting against ending debate (the Senate couldn't vote up or down on the budget unless they could end debate) but the forces of evil prevailed in the end. The move to end debate was only one vote short -- Smith could have been the deciding vote had she opted to lead on this issue.
Smith's explanation of her vote is perlously close to "I supported cloture before I voted against it." In my opinion, she's spinning like a top.
It's also worth noting that Harri Anne Smith gave her campaign another $150,000 last Friday, bringing her total vanity money to $292,000. Honestly, those Republicans in AL-02 are out to break the bank! Oh yeah, I forgot, Harri Anne Smith runs the bank.
There's a massive redistribution of wealth going on in the Wiregrass region of Alabama. Dollars are flowing from Republican candidates to anyone and everyone who sells election-related goods and services. Last week I speculated that GOP candidates would drop a couple of million dollars in Alabama's 2nd District before they got to the general election. With additional pre-primary financial reports available now, it's clear they will spend well over $2 million before they even get to the runoff. It must be nice to have money to burn.
The numbers below reflect information from the candidates' pre-primary FEC reports, due 5/22. N/A means they didn't file or the report isn't available online yet. Remember, the job they're seeking only(!?) pays $169,300 per year.
* Jay Love has loaned his campaign another $151,000 since this report was filed, bringing his total to a cool half million dollars.
No doubt about it, if you're running as a Republican in 2008, it helps to be rich. A whopping 63% of the money raised so far by these Republicans came out of their own pockets -- that's serious hubris.
Here's the fundraising picture on the Democratic side of the primary:
If you eliminate vanity money -- the $1.27 million from their own pockets -- the four Republicans above have raised an average of $181,478 each from outside sources. In other words, about $30K less than Bobby Bright has brought in so far, and all his money comes from someone else.
Fundraising ability often tracks a candidate's level of support in the community, but "self love" money doesn't count as an indication of support. On that basis, Mayor Bright appears to be doing quite well. The Republican hopefuls, on the other hand, are on the road to the poor house.
State Senator and congressional candidate Harri Anne Smith's pre-primary financial disclosure is now online -- details below the fold. Compared to her first quarter totals, Smith's fundraising this period (4/1 thru 5/14) was anemic.
She had total contributions of $66,952, mostly from individuals. If she had continued on her first quarter pace she would have raised around $125,000 this period -- nearly twice as much as she actually took in. Hence the loan of $123,901.18 for a total of $190,853.18 in receipts this period. That brings her grand total to $459,627 so far in this race.
Expenditures for the period were $168,997.89 which brings her total spending to $298,523.75. The money is largely going for advertising and consulting -- a cool $100,000 to Swinehart Consulting in Pensacola. As of May 14 she had $161,103.25 cash on hand.
I looked at the list of Smith contributors (about 60 individuals) and about a quarter of them are maxed out donors. All in all, this was not a great 6 weeks for Harri Anne Smith.
The Republican primary is soaking up a ton of money in Alabama's 2nd congressional district. From The Hill:
GOP state Rep. Jay Love broke the Millionaire’s Amendment this week, opening the floodgates to larger individual contributions in the already expensive race for retiring Rep. Terry Everett’s (R) seat.
Love, who previously had come up just under the $350,000 threshold, topped the mark with a $100,000 contribution Tuesday. He reported the sum Wednesday.
Four candidates are on track to spend well over a quarter million each on the primary, then God knows how much on a runoff. That's probably a couple of million in GOP $$$ down the drain before they even get to the general election. At what point are their backers going to realize this is money down a rat hole? The media outlets in the 2nd District must be loving every minute of this.
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Pass the popcorn because there's an entertaining show playing down in the Wiregrass. Others here have first hand knowledge of the star players, but I just have to throw out a couple of remarks about state Sen. Harri Anne Smith's endorsement of Democrat Bobby Bright for Congress in Alabama's second district.
Jay Love, Republican congressional candidate in the 2nd district, makes much of the fact that he is a conservative Christian. He puts those words 
How ugly is the Republican runoff in Alabama's 2nd District? So ugly that 
