Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – Very few white Democrats left in legislature; several legends retiring

  The Republican tidal wave that swept Alabama’s statewide office-seekers to landslide victories filtered down to legislative races.

  Even though our legislature really didn’t need to become any more conservative or Republican, it did anyway. We had a super majority Republican House and Senate. We now have a super, super GOP majority. Republicans picked up five more Alabama House seats and added another Senate seat. That gives the GOP a 27 to 8 advantage in the Senate and a 77 to 28 edge in the House.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Who's who in the Alabama Legislature

  The Alabama Legislature completed their week-long organizational session last month with very little fanfare or controversy. They will get to work on substantive issues beginning with the regular session in March. Their work will be cut out for them since they're facing a General Fund Budget that has at least a $250 million deficit.

  The legislature that organized for the quadrennium is overwhelmingly Republican. The House has 72 Republicans and 33 Democrats. The Alabama Senate is even more dominated by Republicans. Three-fourths of the senators are Republican. The numbers are 26 to 8. This gives the GOP a carte blanche path to pass anything they desire with little or no opposition.