Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Is the Democratic Party dead in Alabama?

  On the night of the November 2010 elections I was in my regular post as the political analyst for the Montgomery CBS affiliate WAKA Channel 8. Around midnight as it became evident that the Democratic ticket had been annihilated my cohort, longtime anchor Glenn Halbrooks, looked over at me pensively and asked, “What do you think the Democratic Party does now?”  I candidly responded, “They can turn out the lights and leave the keys on the mantle. The Democratic Party is dead in Alabama.” My off the cuff response was not intended to be flippant or humorous but I had just witnessed the devastating denunciation of the Democratic Party in the Heart of Dixie.