The Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat in the great state of Alabama was supposed to be a heavyweight battle to see who takes on U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL), but it’s looking more like a pillow fight.
Tommy Tuberville is winning, according to his and his opponents’ polling.
ALFA, who recently endorsed Tuberville, had the former Auburn football coach 21 points ahead of his nearest competitor in a poll.
To make things worse, it turns out that the nearest competitor is Judge Roy Moore, setting up a potential Tuberville-Moore runoff in March.
Even with a former football coach dominating the polls, and a disgraced former politician who handed the Senate seat to a Democrat in second, those aren’t the most shocking things about this race.
The real shocker is that nobody seems to want to do anything to change how the race is going.
Just this past week, Tommy Tuberville told Talk 99.5 in Birmingham that President Trump was putting a noose around farmers’ necks with his tariffs.
The story was picked up nationally by The Hill. But do you know where it received minimal coverage? The state of Alabama.
His opponents did not comment and the local media shrugged for five days.
https://twitter.com/TheDaleJackson/status/1180618989891997696
Do any of the campaigns out there even still care?
Tuberville is at 36% of the vote, and that was before receiving ALFA’s endorsement.
If Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill or former Judge Roy Moore don’t start hitting Tuberville when he fumbles, this race may be over soon.
Tuberville lends himself to criticism. He has no problem saying what he thinks, even when it could hurt him.
If Byrne, Merrill or Moore want to be the next senator from the great state of Alabama, they need to start seriously setting themselves apart from Tuberville.
That means highlighting his stumbles and talking about his deficiencies on policy. A big part of his campaign is that he is “not a politician” and his statements make that clear.
Perception is everything, and right now the perception is that Tuberville is going to win easily and none of the other candidates appear to care.
If there are not some serious moves made soon, this race might already be over.
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
