Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Countdown to Election Day

  The 2014 General Election is Tuesday. It is set to be uneventful. I predicted over a year ago that this election year was going to be dull and, folks, my prognostication has come to fruition. This year has been a yawner from the get go.

  Even the GOP and Democratic Primaries in June were void of any drama. As the results trickled in from the summer primaries, there were absolutely no surprises or upsets. Even in the face of historic low voter turnout, every favorite or incumbent prevailed and usually by the margin suggested by polling.

Joseph O. Patton: Will the real Democrat please stand up?

  This time each election year I’m already popping antacid in anticipation of the invariably obnoxious, absurd, pander-prone TV ads of candidates seeking elected office in Alabama. Many of the spots you’d think were produced as comedy sketches for SNL, and others simply leave your brain feeling constipated. But imagine my surprise when it wasn’t the typical source of nutty-cakes campaigning but the Democratic Party’s own candidate for attorney general Joe Hubbard that left me rolling my eyes.

  Hubbard is currently completing his term representing District 73 in the Alabama House of Representatives. He’s being squeezed out of the area by race-based redistricting courtesy of his Republican colleagues in the Alabama Legislature in a statewide move to essentially eradicate white Democrats.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Surprises looming in 2014?

  For the past year it has appeared that this year’s election was going to be less than exciting. Now that the dust has settled it looks like that will pretty much be the case. This lackluster year has been created by the fact that incumbents hold all five of the top constitutional offices and all five, especially the governor, are pretty popular.

  The field is set and the lineup card is in the hands of the scorekeeper. The primaries are set for June 3 with the runoffs coming six weeks later on July 15. The general election will be November 3. More than likely the governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner and treasurer--all Republicans--will be reelected to a second four-year term.