From Steven Noles via Facebook:
I wanted to say that yesterday’s SDEC meeting was the worst I have ever attended. Contentiousness; misguided decisions; constant worry that someone was going to succumb to heatstroke … then I remembered. My least favorite Democratic politician has more on the ball than my most favorite Republican. The willingness to air differing viewpoints, and to oppose predetermined outcomes, is what makes us better than them.
At Left In Alabama, Mooncat says:
The Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee met yesterday in Montgomery in a meeting room with no air conditioning, no wifi and precious little cell phone signal. Uncomfortable and isolated — it may be an appropriate metaphor for the party this year.
Contrary to Noles’ sentiment, Artur Davis told the Montgomery Avertiser:
The usual ritual at these events is that the runner-up in the primary embraces the winner and pledges full-throated support for the nominee in the fall.
In a break with tradition, I did not attend that event and will not be campaigning for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. I want Democrats and independent-minded voters to know just why not.
One of the reasons I entered elective politics as a Democrat is because I worried that the Republican administrations of Guy Hunt and Fob James had set the state back in fundamental ways. The emerging Republican Party in the state offered little in the way of new approaches to revive the economy or modernize our schools. A few narrow interest groups held unusual influence in the GOP, and those interests appeared uninterested in any public purpose beyond maintaining their own power.
After almost two years of navigating the Alabama Democratic terrain as a gubernatorial candidate, I fear that the forces that dominate my party have turned into the same conservative anti-reform elements that I went into politics to oppose.
Thus does Davis — doubtless about to start his own think-tank and issue-advocacy group — eschew the state party and become a progressive.
Ah, the fissiparous left and its strange career arcs! I expect to one day receive an appeal for money to pursue Artur’s vision of a better Alabama; and while I will certainly consider it, the idea of finding a “third way” to improve Alabama before this November is just ludicrous.
Sparks is what we have now because Davis ran a poor campaign. For that, I blame him — and hope he’ll do better next time:
