Southern Progress Action Fund (SPAF), an Arkansas-based liberal group bent on returning Democrats to power in the South is spending over $100,000 to swing Alabama legislative races in the final week of the election cycle.

The group, which Bloomberg reported “hopes that the South will rise again — for Democrats, that is,” was launched by former Democratic governor of Mississippi Ronnie Musgrove and has ten former Democratic elected officials on its board of governors. The most notable name on the group’s leadership team may be Howard Dean, whose résumé includes stints as the governor of Vermont and chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He’s also a former presidential candidate — if nothing else, you probably recall the “Dean Scream” — and has since then become one of the preeminent progressive activists in the country.

In addition to its spending on political ads, the group also opposes what they refer to as “onerous voter ID laws,” including the one Alabama put into effect for the first time this year.

On Tuesday, Alabama Republican Party chairman Bill Armistead sharply criticized SPAF for running “dishonest negative ads against Republican legislative candidates” and for not disclosing its donors.

“The Southern Progress Action Fund is a cloak-and-dagger group that is purposely hiding its contributors from the media and voters in Alabama,”Armistead said in a statement released to the press. “Much of the content of the ads is outrageous, offensive and untrue and attacks our conservative Republican legislative candidates with no accountability in return for those funding them. This out-of-state group is flagrantly avoiding Alabama’s campaign finance laws and trying to mislead Alabama voters by hiding its donors with sleight-of-hand tactics.

“These dishonest tactics may work elsewhere, but I believe the people of Alabama will recognize the Southern Progress Action Fund as a group of liberals being funded by liberals to elect liberals,”Armistead continued. “The group’s website lists ultra-liberals like Howard Dean, a former chairman of the National Democrat Party, and former California Gov. Gray Davis among its founders and leaders, which is all of the evidence you need to know that it opposes the conservative beliefs and values that most Alabamians hold.”

The SPAF ads began airing in the Montgomery and Huntsville media markets on Tuesday, and the amount of the buy was culled from advertising logs at the television stations running them. They are scheduled to continue through Election Day on November 4.

This is the second time this election cycle that a Howard Dean-affiliated group has become a player in Alabama politics. In preparation for the 2014 election cycle, Alabama Education Association (AEA) political operatives, including AEA chief Henry Mabry, attended  Dean’s “Campaign Academy,” a workshop for liberal-progressive community organizers, hosted by Dean’s flagship organization, Democracy for America.

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(Video: Yellowhammer explains how Obama organizers are trying to hijack Alabama’s Republican primary)

The News in 90 Seconds is a Yellowhammer feature that takes a complex issue and boils it down into a short video to make it more understandable. Today we’re explaining how Obama organizers are trying to hijack Alabama’s Republican primary, which is set to take place this coming Tuesday, June 3rd.

Check out the video above. The transcript of the voiceover is below and includes links to Yellowhammer’s coverage of each of the issues mentioned.

The Democratic Party is all but defunct in Alabama.

So liberal groups like the AEA now concoct elaborate schemes to funnel money into Republican primaries. Deceptively-named groups like The Alabama Foundation for Limited Government and Stop Common Core PAC, which certainly “sound” conservative, actually appear to be little more than money laundering operations, spending millions to manipulate Alabama conservatives. In fact, Obama’s media buyers are the ones buying ad time for these two groups.

So the AEA isn’t acting alone.

Their operatives started last year by attending a “campaign academy” hosted by a group founded by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

Barack Obama’s campaign operation, now known as Organizing for Action, linked up with the AEA to help them get voters to the polls. They were joined by a new group called Empower Alabama, launched earlier this year by the former Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, who quickly hired Obama campaign staffers.

This highly trained coalition of community organizers has been scouring the state in recent months, but not in Democratic districts where you might expect, but in Republican areas.

Alabama has open primaries. So these groups are working to get traditionally Democratic voting blocs to the polls on June 3rd to vote not for Democrats, but for their chosen Republicans. Meanwhile the front groups we mentioned earlier flood the airwaves with propaganda.

Whether they are ultimately successful in swinging elections will come down to voter turnout. They’re banking on Republicans sitting at home on election day thinking their vote won’t matter.

That’s How Obama organizers are trying to Hijack Alabama’s Republican primary, and this is the News in 90 Seconds.

Want to see more episodes of The News in 90 Seconds? Click over to Yellowhammer TV.

RELATED: News in 90 Seconds: Alabama’s Enviro Invasion

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the most traveled potential candidate to early presidential primary states in 2013, racking up eight visits over the last year.

Paul ventured twice to Iowa, once to New Hampshire and four times to South Carolina — in addition to touching down in Nevada, which is expected to host the second caucus of 2016.

Paul’s been the least coy about his intentions, acknowledging he’s mulling a presidential bid but noting that a significant hurdle will be getting his wife on board.  He was the only 2016 contender to hit each of the early four states.

The only other aspirant to come close to Paul’s travel schedule was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has claimed he’s completely focused on the Senate, while making three visits to Iowa, two to South Carolina and one to New Hampshire.

Two other top-tier GOP candidates: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio mostly stayed away from the early state parade. Christie, who had his own re-election to tend to, made one trip to Nevada in August to raise money; Rubio swore off early state travel altogether. 

Here are your 2013 totals of early state visits:

Rand Paul: 8 – Iowa (2), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (4), Nevada (1)

Ted Cruz: 6 – Iowa (3), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (2), Nevada (-)

Rick Santorum: 4 — Iowa (2), New Hampshire (0), South Carolina (2), Nevada (-)

Bobby Jindal: 3 — Iowa (1), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (1), Nevada (-)

Rick Perry: 3 — Iowa (1), New Hampshire (0), South Carolina (2), Nevada (-)

Scott Walker: 3 – Iowa (1), New Hampshire (-), South Carolina (1), Nevada (1)

Paul Ryan: 2 — Iowa (1), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (-), Nevada (-)

Jeb Bush: 1 — Iowa (-), New Hampshire (-), South Carolina (1), Nevada (-)

Chris Christie: 1 — Iowa (-), New Hampshire (-), South Carolina (-), Nevada (1)

South Carolina was by far the most frequently visited early state for Republicans this year.  It registered 13 visits.

For Democrats, early state travel was considerably slower, due to the shadow of Hillary Clinton.

While Clinton did not step foot in an early primary state, Vice President Joe Biden made two visits to South Carolina (one official and one political) and one to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.  Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley made an initial foray into South Carolina in March and headlined a Democratic dinner in New Hampshire last month.  Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean touched down in Iowa and New Hampshire and both Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer made one visit to Iowa.

Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com

Alabama Education Association (AEA) political operatives, including AEA chief Henry Mabry, spent this past Saturday and Sunday in Birmingham attending Democracy for America’s “Campaign Academy,” a workshop for liberal-progressive community organizers.

Democracy for America (DFA) was founded in 2004 by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

According to Wikipedia, “Democracy for America has helped elect over 600 progressives into office, including President Barack Obama, while building their membership to over a million like-minded progressives across all fifty states.”

Other candidates DFA has heavily backed in the past include Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who narrowly missed being named the U.S. Senate’s most liberal member by the National Journal, and the U.S. Senate’s first self-proclaimed socialist, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Here is some background on a few of the DFA representatives who were brought in to train the AEA:

Matthew “Mudcat” Arnold:

According to his bio, Mudcat has “designed sophisticated organizing operations for MoveOn.org, the Sierra club, and a host of other non-profit and labor clients.”

Michael Cook:

Cook is a former member of Bill Clinton’s campaign staff. He has also been executive director of the Arkansas Democratic Party and chief of staff to a Democrat Lt. Governor of Arkansas.

Franco Caliz

Caliz’s bio proudly states that he was “a passionate progressive even at age 14,” at which point he cut his teeth in the “world of political organizing with John Kerry’s presidential campaign.”

Breakout sessions during the workshop included finance strategy, developing a campaign message, targeting your universe, get out the vote (GOTV).

The AEA’s partnership with Democracy for America comes on the heels of their decision to work with Obama’s political operation to help them turn out voters in legislative races in 2014, even in Republican primaries where AEA is actively recruiting and funding candidates.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

Howard Dean, the 2004 insurgent presidential candidate who previously said Hillary Clinton would not get a free pass for the Democratic nomination in 2016, has adjusted his view.

Appearing in Iowa Wednesday to speak before a labor conference, Dean told The Des Moines Register he’s supporting Clinton in the next White House contest.

“At this point, I’m supporting Hillary Clinton,” Dean, a former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential candidate, told The Des Moines Register in a brief interview in Iowa today.

Asked if he’s definitively ruling out a White House bid, Dean climbed into a waiting car and said with a grin, “Ahhgh, we’re done here. Thank you.”

It’s a peculiar recalibration for Dean, who was one of the few progressives willing to publicly put the breaks on a coronation for Clinton.  And for someone who has been through the ringer in Iowa before, it would be odd if he were caught off guard by a 2016 question lobbed by a reporter.

To be fair, Dean never said he wouldn’t support Hillary — but to put his conditional stamp of approval on her yet-to-be-announced bid once again underlines the real possibility that Clinton won’t have a formidable challenger.

The only way to contest Clinton ideologically is from the left — and if one of the foremost leaders of the liberal movement is already tipping his hat to her, it’s an early indication that unity may trump policy fissures.

Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com