Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The cloud over Big Luther

  In Alabama politics, many times appointments to political offices filled by an acting governor have an adverse effect on that appointee if and when they seek election to that office for a full term. Every time George Wallace appointed someone to a political post, even in the prime of his popularity and power, they invariably lost in the next election.

  Well, folks, ole Dr. Bentley ain’t George Wallace, and his appointment of Luther Strange to the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions may come back to haunt Big Luther. His appointment is even more problematic due to the appearance of collusion surrounding the appointment. The stain of the Bentley appointment hovers over Big Luther’s tall head in Washington.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The tale of Landslide Lyndon

  There are a good many stories about elections of the 1940s and 50s where votes were bought and elections stolen. The most brazen theft of an election occurred in the 1948 race for the U.S. Senate in Texas. The race was between Coke Stevenson and Lyndon B. Johnson. It can also be classified as one of the most relevant robberies in American history because if Johnson had lost as he was supposed to, it would have dramatically impacted U.S. history.

  Coke Stevenson was a Texas icon. He was the epitome of a Texas gentleman and he was revered. He was Texas’ Horatio Alger and Davy Crockett combined. He raised himself from age 12, built a ranching empire, was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and a very popular Governor of Texas. Stevenson was above reproach. He would not lie, steal or cheat, and Texans knew that about old Coke.