Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Alabama Legislature not a very good stepping stone

  Early speculation on the 2020 U.S. Senate race had Alabama state Sen. Del Marsh listed as a potential GOP aspirant. He had considered making a plunge into the Special Election contest for Jeff Sessions’ seat in 2017 but opted out.

  Most astute observers never thought he would ultimately pull the trigger then or this year. Unlike others who have run and won statewide, Marsh is essentially unknown outside of the Capitol and is known only around his Anniston senate district. His best asset was probably that he had his own money to spend rather than his state senate influence.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Who are you?

  A while back I wrote a column entitled "The State Legislature Is A Good Training Ground For Governor, But Not A Good Stepping Stone To Governor." The essence of my hypothesis was being one of the 105 members of the Alabama House of Representatives or even one of the 35 members of the Senate does not lend itself to building name identification, which is essential to being elected to statewide office.