2010 Governor's Race

Interesting quote and insight from Birmingham-Southern Political Science Professor Natalie Davis this morning in a Charles Dean story in The Birmingham News: "I think with Folsom's decision to stay out, Artur Davis clearly has a foothold in the Democratic race," said Natalie Davis, who is not related to the candidate. "I think that makes some elements of the Democratic Party nervous, nervous that a black candidate at the top of the ticket could lead to the party losing control of the Legislature, and that's why you're suddenly seeing somebody like Roger Bedford being mentioned, somebody who the old interest groups in the party can identify with as opposed to Davis." There are some folks who say Davis can't win, and they justify that belief by pointing to the fact that Barack Obama won only 10% of the Alabama white vote in the General Election. Then again, Obama did win the Alabama Primary, and there were folks who said America wasn't ready for a black president either. [Note: The Montgomery Advertiser's Sebastian Kitchen offers similar analysis in this morning's paper...I read it in the print edition and wanted to link to it online but if it is on their site, I can't find it...and I looked!]