CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
Nov. 5, 2008 – 1:38 a.m.
111th House Freshmen: Bobby N. Bright, D-Ala. (2)
By Annie Johnson, CQ Staff
Election: Defeated Jay Love, R, to succeed Terry Everett , R, who retired
Residence: Montgomery
Born: July 21, 1952; Midland City, Ala.
Religion: Baptist
Family: Wife, Lynn Clardy Bright; three children
Education: Enterprise State Junior College, attended 1970-72; Auburn U., B.A. 1975 (political science); Troy State U., M.S. 1977 (criminal justice); Faulkner U., J.D. 1982
Career: Lawyer; prison guard
Political highlights: Mayor of Montgomery, 1999-present
Bright is the first Democrat to capture this seat in half a century, but he promises not to stray too far from the policies of his fiscally conservative Republican predecessors.
Born and raised in the wire-grass region of southern Alabama, he hopes to bring a calming voice in what is expected to be a heated debate on the economy.
Bright, endorsed late in his campaign by the Blue Dog Coalition, says he hopes to rein in spending and work to balance the national budget.
“As mayor of Montgomery, I balanced the budget in each of my nine years in office,” he says. “I also believe economic development is extremely important as we try to energize our economy.”
He is anti-abortion and opposes gun control.
111th House Freshmen: Bobby N. Bright, D-Ala. (2)
He believes the role of the government should primarily consist of national defense and says he has received “assurances” for spots on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees.
The area’s retiring congressman, Everett, serves on both panels. The district is home to Fort Rucker and Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base.
Bright says he decided to run for the House because he felt previous representatives — who had promised to serve the distinct needs of the constituents — found themselves in a recitation of the party agenda.
“I’ll put party politics in the back seat,” he says.
Comments
I'm sorry this DINO won. Given a choice between a real Republican and a DINO, I'll take the Republican every time. At least, they're not pretending to be something they're not.
The guy may be a DINO, but by virtue of his having a 'D' by his name, the Democrats add to their majority status in Congress, which helps with the number of committee seats they get. That alone is a big enough plus to have rather than a seat that would have gone to a Republican anyway.
Okay, a (real) Republican would otherwise win this district. But, as a general proposition and picking the numbers out of a hat, I'd rather have committees composed of 19 real Democrats and 16 Republicans than 20 "Democrats" and 15 Republicans where the extra "Democrat" in the latter case was a DINO who voted with the Republicans most of the time. It's just a matter of preference and I think the vote in committee would generally be the same either way. Another of the advantages of not electing DINOs is that the Democrats can try again next time with a less conservative candidate. Once the DINO is elected the first time, it can be difficult to get rid of him or her.
Your "less conservative candidate" will lose badly in district like this. Absolutely no chances.So, your REAL choice is between DINO, who will vote with Democratic majority from time to time, and "REAL Republican", who will not. It's THAT simple.
It also doesn't help that a DINO gets a vote in the Democratic caucus. Anyway, we will see what we will see.
It's GOOD, that DINO "gets a vote in the Democratic caucus". All points of views must be heard. Democratic party is, IN GENERAL, more liberal of two, but it's NOT a liberal party
Well, with all due respect Ken, it doesn't matter what you think unless you live in the Alabama 2nd District...they like this DINO and they elected him. Bright ran on progressive economic principles and on ending the Iraq War. One those issues, he will be solidly behind the Democrats. On those issues alone, he is much better than any Republican you get down there. Yeah, so, he won't be behind them on abortion and gay marriage, but those don't seem to be issues Alabamans or Congress are going to care much about in the next two years. As someone who spent 2 years as a child living in what is now the Alabama-2, I'm shocked he opposed the Iraq war and still won.
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