Alabama Democratic Party
Post Office Box 950
Montgomery, Alabama  36101-0950

p - 334.262.2221
f - 334.262.6474

www.aladems.org
 

April 13, 2006

Dear Secretary Herman, Mr. Roosevelt and the Members of the Rules and Bylaws Committee:

I would like join with Alabama's Democratic National Committee members to request for the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee to consider Alabama as a pre-window Presidential Preference Primary state for the 2008 election cycle.  After reviewing the enclosed information, I feel sure that you will agree that Alabama meets the criteria set by the Rules and Bylaws Committee.

Alabama is known across our nation as a state where you must declare your allegiance for Alabama or Auburn, Alabama State, Alabama A&M or Tuskegee football.  Football in Alabama is not our only competitive sport -- politics ranks right up there too.  In particular Democratic politics is the name of the game.  No many people nationally know that Alabama controls both houses in the state legislature and over 70% of the district and county elected offices.  The Alabama Democratic Party is active, growing and ready to show the nation retail politics Alabama style.  From the mountains of north Alabama to the gulf waters of the south you will find organized and active Democrats in each of the 67 counties.  With a population of over 4.5 million we are one of the most diverse states in the nation.  As you review our submission, you will see that your great state is not only one of the most diverse in the South, but also in the nation.  Our diversity is seen in many areas such as racial population, union participation, geographic, and economic diversity.

I ask for your vote and support to make Alabama a pre-window Presidential Preference Primary state.  By naming Alabama to this honored position you will help set in motion a call to the many Democratic sons and daughters of Alabama to come home to a different Alabama that many left years ago.  Today, Alabama stands as one of the most diverse states in the nation.  I hope you will be able to join me in Alabama in late January, 2008 and allow me to show you "Alabama-the Beautiful" and share with you some Alabama hospitality and join with the Alabama Democratic Party in introducing the rest of the nation to the "Alabama -- the Birthplace of Civil Rights".

When we meet in New Orleans this next week, Alabama Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham and Vice Chair for Minority Affairs Dr. Joe L. Reed will be able to tell you more about the state it all begins with ...Alabama.

Sincerely,
 

Jim Spearman
Executive Director
 


Contributions are not tax deductible and may not be used for federal election candidates.
Paid for by the Alabama Democratic Party, not at taxpayers expense.


 

Racial and Ethnic Diversity

Alabama is the most racially diverse state in the south. African-American population is 26% in the last census.  Hispanic population is growing at the fastest rate of any group in Alabama and there are nearly 100,000 Hispanic residents in Alabama.  This is a 300% increase in the past 14 years.  The gulf coast area is home to an Asian-American community.  In fact, the town of Bayou LaBatre has an Asian-American elected to their city council. Birmingham, Alabama's largest city has a large and strong Democratic Lebanese-American population.

African-Americans make up over 40% of the voting population and minority voters are a majority of the Democratic Primary.  Minority voters are not concentrated in one area of the state or in one metropolitan area, but live and work throughout the state.  Alabama has a higher percentage of minority elected officials than any other state.  The Alabama House of Representatives and Senate are one of the most diverse in the nation and their make-up of members mirrors Alabama's percentage of racial population.

Alabama is the home to the nation's second most historically black colleges and universities with one of our state committee members serving as a president of one of the HBCU's.  Dr. Joe L. Reed, Vice Chair of Minority Affairs serves as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, America's oldest black political caucus. Mr. Fred Gray, Attorney for Mrs. Rosa Parks, serves as the Macon County Democratic Chair.

The Alabama Democratic Party bylaws require equal gender and minority representation in proportion to the percentage in the Democratic electorate on each County Democratic Executive Committee and the State Democratic Executive Committee.  Alabama delegates to the Democratic National Convention are equal black and white and female and male making it the most racially diverse state delegation.  Presently the Alabama Democratic Party has fielded minority candidates at all levels from local offices to Congress.
 

Regional and Geographic Diversity

Alabama is situated in the center of the south and is fortunate to have mountains and beaches. Alabama has an estimated population in 2006 of over 4.5 million residents with the Birmingham metro containing over one million residents.  The space and rocket industry dominates the north around the Huntsville area.  Further south, Birmingham is known worldwide for their medical and research facilities.  Then on southward is the capital city of Montgomery -"the Birthplace of Civil Rights". On the gulf coast you will find the port city of Mobile.  Mobile is home to recently elected Mayor Sam Jones, a great Democrat and Mobile's first African-American Mayor.  Alabama is not just these great cities, but you will find the spirit of Alabama in the many rural towns from the north to south.

Alabama has 4 major media markets with the Birmingham market ranked as 39th in the nation, larger than Memphis, Buffalo, and San Antonio.  Montgomery is home to a national communication corporation that operates television stations in 20 states and claims 10% of the nations household watch one of their stations. Alabama has an online news source, al.com, an Alabama Democratic Party donor, which is widely read online daily.  There are numerous minority based media outlets specializing in news and information for the Hispanics and African-American communities.  There are many daily and weekly newspapers along with a diverse group of electronic and alternative print media.

Economic Diversity

Alabama of old was an agriculture based economy.  Those days are long gone, even though Alabama still ranks high with agricultural based industries.  The new Alabama is one of Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai plants, which Alabama Democrats brought to our great state.  Alabama's economic diversity is as wide and diverse as its people.  The northern part of the state is computer and engineering based with NASA and other government agencies including TVA.  This area is populated by traditional Roosevelt Democrats.  Central Alabama's economy is where most of the automobile industry is located and it has transformed the area to a more diverse economy.  South Alabama remains a more rural area that has an agricultural base, except for the Mobile area which is based on the port of Mobile and the chemical industry surrounding that area.  Alabama is a diverse state and when looking at union participation and density you will find the number one state in the south.  The chart below shows Alabama as compared to other southern states.
 
% of Union Membership %ofPopulation Represented by a Union
AL 
AR 
FL
GA 
LA 
MS 
NC 
SC 
9.7
4.8 
6.0
6.4 
7.6 
4.8 
2.7 
3.0 
11.5
6.2
7.7
7.5
9.3
6.3
3.6
4.2

Source: Labor Research Association 2004

Labor is a major partner of the Alabama Democratic Party.  The Party has a Vice-Chair of Labor- Private Sector, held by Stewart Burkhalter, President of the Alabama AFL-CIO and a Vice Chair of Labor- Public Sector, held by Dr. Paul Hubbert, Executive Secretary of the Alabama Education Association.  Many members of Labor serve as Democratic County Chairs and on the State Democratic Executive Committee.  From a retired machinist union officer in Dale County to the retired UAW officer in Madison to the Blount County Chair, who is the retired southern regional vice president of the United States Steelworkers to the Alabama Education Association regional director and daughter of an NEA executive serving as the Talladega County Chair, Alabama has diversity in the party in and around our communities.

Alabama Democrats hold over 70% of the elected offices in Alabama. Democrats hold offices in 66 of the 67 counties around the state.  There are many active Democratic Clubs and constituency groups that are a great asset for Democratic campaigns.  In addition Alabama has an active environmental community lead by Alabama Legal Environmental Action Voters or AlEAV, which plays a progressive role in many Alabama Democratic Party elections and was founded by current Alabama Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham.  The Alabama Democratic Party has members in all walks of life and support that ranges across Alabama. The Montgomery County Democratic Chair is in rotation to become the president of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association.

Other Constituency Partners:

Alabama Democratic .Conference
Alabama Hispanic Caucus
Alabama Federation of Democratic Women
Alabama Stonewall Democrats
Alabama Federation of College Democrats
Alabama Young Democrats
Alabama Education Association
Alabama Trial Lawyers Association
 

Implementation Capabilities

Democrats are in majority of both houses of the legislature in Alabama, unlike many southern states, therefore passage of a bill moving the date of the Democratic Presidential Preference Primary to a pre-window date should not be a problem.  On Monday, April 17, 2006 the Alabama House is poised to give final passage to a bi-partisan bill moving our Presidential Preference Primary to the first Tuesday in February and the governor has committed to signing the bill into law.  The Democratic leadership in Alabama is in full support of our request for the pre-window designation.  The Republican leadership would like the same designation from the RNC and there are members we have been in contact with that are working to try to secure this approval.

In Alabama the funding for all primaries is paid by the state, therefore this should not be a problem in Alabama.

Alabama is under the Voting Rights Act and would need pre-clearance by the Justice Department prior to any change in election law. This has not been a problem in many years in Alabama and should not be in the future.

A Case for Selecting
Alabama as An Early
Primary State

By most accounts, Alabama still remains one of the most Democratic states in the South today, in terms of office-holders.  Starting with the legislature, Democrats control both Houses of the Alabama Legislature today.  At present, Democrats hold 62 or 59% of the seats in the House and Republicans hold 43 or 41 % of the seats in the House.  In the Senate, Democrats hold 25 or 71.4 % of the seats in that body and Republicans hold 10 or 28.6% of the seats therein.

In looking at the June Primary qualifying lists of both parties, there are 36 Democratic House districts that are uncontested. Of the 25 Democratic Senate seats in the state, six did not draw Republican challengers at all.  Although four of our majority black Senate seats have Republicans opponents, they are perfectly safe seats and should produce Democratic winners.

At the congressional district level Alabama will not lose any ground this year.  Fortunately, our two Alabama Congressmen, Bud Cramer (CD-5) and Artur Davis (CD- 7) did not get any Republicans opponents to qualify against them.  On the other hand, the Alabama Democratic Party succeeded in getting Democratic candidates to qualify and run against four of the five incumbent Republican Congressmen.  Two of our Democratic Congressional District challengers are women--Vivian Beckerle running in CD-l and Barbara Bobo running in CD-2.  Incidentally, because of the strength of the black vote in our state it is noteworthy that Dr. Ethel Hall, a black member of the state school board, was the only state school board candidate to qualify who did not get any opposition this year. Moreover, in Jefferson County (which is the largest county in the state) Shelia Smoot, an active member of our Party am one of two Democrats on the County
Commission, did not get opposition.  She was the only uncontested incumbent on the five-member commission.

At the appellate court level our party is fortunate this year to have four seasoned and experienced district or circuit court judges running for a place on the appellate courts.  Four of our appellate court nominees are women; and three are black.

Although Bush carried Alabama in 2004, he had very little coattails.  With the exception of the appellate courts, the Republican Party has made very few significant break-throughs elsewhere.  In 2005, Mobile elected its first black mayor, Sam Jones.  Also, now that Montgomery is majority black city, it is likely that it may elect its first black mayor in 2007, prior to the 2008 presidential election.

Much credit for the Democratic Party's success, respect, and status in this state is due to the presence and partnership that we have with the Alabama Democratic Conference, which is the black political caucus of Alabama.  Founded in 1960, ADC has been a committed advocate of fairness and justice issues throughout the political system.  ADC's current chairman Joe Reed has worked tirelessly to get blacks elected equitably to every chamber of government in Alabama along with responsive whites of goodwill.  To a great degree, Joe Reed and ADC have achieved much of their goal.  Alabama now has a total of 870 black elected officials. Moreover, Alabama has achieved virtual representational parity of blacks serving in the legislature, on the state school board, on county commissions, on local school boards, and on city councils.  Without question, Alabama has more black elected officials, per capita based on the state's voting age population, than any other state in the nation.

Throughout its history the ADC has been deeply connected to presidential politics.  In fact, the organization was founded in 1960, primarily to support the Kennedy-Johnson presidential ticket.  Since 1960, ADC has courted presidential candidates for many election seasons and organizational conventions.  Many presidential candidates have spoken at ADC conventions.  They include: Hubert Humphrey, Edmund Muskie, Sargent Shriver, Paul Simon, Walter
Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Gary Hart, John Glenn, Fritz Hollings, Lyndon Larouche, Jesse Jackson, Alan Cranston, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore.  In October 1991, Bill Clinton and former DNC chairman Ron Brown spoke at the ADC Semi-Annual Convention in Birmingham.  This was Clinton's first trip to Alabama after he announced that he was running for president in 1991.

By the way, when Alabama had an early presidential preference in March 1994, Alabama was a "looked-to" state.  The Democratic vote that Mondale received in Alabama that year enabled him to carry the state, and propelled him to other primary victories.  Indeed, when Alabama had early presidential preference primaries in 1984 and 1988, all of the presidential candidates visited Alabama several times, along with the national media.  The legacy of George Wallace's presidential candidacy, coupled with Alabama's rich civil rights and civil war history makes our state an attractive place to be politically.

In our opinion, Alabama deserves to hold an early primary because of the role that this state has played in the history of civil and voting rights.  The 1965 Voting Rights Act was bred here.  No other state can make that claim.  Alabama gave the nation Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Moreover, when the Voting Rights Act came up for renewal in 1982, leaders in the Democratic Party of Alabama, namely Joe Reed, persuaded Congressman Peter Rodino to hold a field hearing in Montgomery, Alabama to receive powerful, testimony from grassroots leaders as to why the Voting Rights Act needed to be amended and extended.  Several major marches were held around the state in 1981 to promote the extension of the Voting Rights.  Now that key sections of the
Voting Rights Act are up for renewal in 2007, Alabama would like to be a "looked to" state again in Presidential Politics.  To our credit, the Democratic Party and the ADC have succeeded in getting scores of biracial and bipartisan governments in Alabama to adopt resolutions in support of renewing the VRA in 2007.

The Voting Rights Act has had a powerful impact on local and presidential contests.  Alabama has tried to take full advantage of the Act. During the Carter administration, Democratic leaders persuaded the president to appointed two black federal judges and two U. S. Marshals.

Since the last presidential election Alabama Democrats have succeeded in getting a bill passed in the legislature, making it easier for ex-felons to get their voting rights restored.  DNC member Yvonne Kennedy of Mobile was the chief sponsor of that act.  Since its passage more than 4,000 ex-felons have gotten their voting rights restored. Prior to the Act, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles rarely restored voting rights to more than 300 ex-felons in a year.

Finally, we call your attention to the new economic presence of Alabama as a key player in the automotive industry.  Within the past 15 years Alabama has landed automobile manufacturing companies from Germany, Japan, and Korea.  The demographic diversity of the state is growing.  There is a significant Hispanic presence in the workforce in many parts of Alabama.  Their political presence was most noticeable recently during the immigration policy debate, as they demonstrated in several rallies around the state and got their message broadcast over various Spanish-oriented stations.