1. 3 GOP candidates debate while the Governor threw out the first pitch at a minor league baseball game in the same city
— Governor Kay Ivey’s refusal to debate is a key talking point for Republican opponents but probably doesn’t move the needle all that much with actual voters. This won’t stop us from talking about it.
— All of this talk may be for naught, Ivey is either the 2nd or 3rd most popular Governor depending on who you ask.
2. President Donald Trump didn’t want false stories about his life in the media; former FBI Director finds this odd
— James Comey’s book is being treated just like Michael Wolff’s tell-all from earlier this year. The glowing praise and breathless reporting is being treated as gospel and agenda-free.
— Wednesday’s big takeaway was that the president was upset that people were reporting the “pee tape” story as fact and he wanted the FBI to knock it down. Comey relayed that this was especially painful for Melania Trump.
3. Alabama’s Democrat senator has a pretty solid approval rating, for now
— Sen. Doug Jones’ approval rating is a net +22 while the senior Republican Sen. Richard Shelby has a +21 rating, but Shelby is the one of the two with a raw approval number over the 50 percent mark.
— Most of this rub for Jones can probably be attributed to his defeat of Judge Roy Moore. Eventually he will have to cast votes with his party.
4. Republicans continue to angle for the House Speaker job, even though it seems unlikely they control that position
— Representatives Steve Scalise and Kevin McCarthy are raising money for a potential shot at Speaker of the House, Ryan has tossed his support behind McCarthy.
— Not many people think Ryan would have stepped down if Republicans were expected to hang on to the House; currently Democrats are up 6.6 points on the generic Congressional ballot.
5. Alabama Democrats continue to read from the same playbook, this strategy has cost them the last 3 elections
— Democrats of the last 3 elections have argued for a lottery and increased government spending on healthcare. These ideas have not brought about any signs of actual success but that isn’t stopping them.
— The only reported dust-up came when former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox debated who would best raise the state’s minimum wage.
6. Former QB Colin Kaepernick was reportedly denied a job opportunity because he wouldn’t stop kneeling, which he denies
— Kaepernick had a workout planned with the Seattle Seahawks that was allegedly canceled after he would not agree to end his National Anthem protests.
— The embattled QB is not the only player being questioned about his willingness to end the on-the-clock protests, free-agent safety Eric Davis was questioned by the Cincinnati Bengals about the issue when he met with them.
7. Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day; Americans don’t remember
— The day was established in 1980 – at the time only the U.S. and Israel had a day of remembrance – a study released this year shows that 58 percent of respondents believe it could happen again.
— One-third of all respondents and over 40 percent of millennials believe only 2 million or fewer were killed during the Holocaust, it is more troubling that 22 percent have no idea what the Holocaust is.
