Ok, it wasn’t the blog that was quoted but rather from an interview, so I guess I won’t send them a bill (via the AP/Montgomery Advertiser: 2nd District runoff heats up over taxes

Steven Taylor, associate professor of political science at Troy University in the 2nd District, said it’s not surprising that the campaign would be turning ugly, considering that Smith, with 21.8 percent of the primary vote, trailed Love’s 35.5 percent.

“Senator Smith needs to find a way to get a little more attention,” Taylor said. “I think dredging up Amendment One is a way for her to bring up taxes and differentiate herself from Love.”

Taylor said he doesn’t believe Amendment One is still much of an issue with voters, pointing out that Riley was re-elected easily in 2024 and received little apparent fallout from the tax vote.

And certainly for insight like that, I am sure that they will be quoting me extensively in the future! Still, it was more than five words.

In all seriousness, I did say some more intelligent things that that when I spoke to the reporter, but so it goes. The context is the pending run-off for the Republican nomination the AL02 seat, between state Senator Harri Anne Smith and state Representative Jay Love. The Amendment One issue was from Governor Riley’s (R) first term when he tried to deal with structural state budget problems in a package of reforms that included some tax increases. First, the hair-splitting here is classic politics: both Smith and Love voted for the entire package that went to the voters. Smith, however, is pointing out that she didn’t vote for the individual elements of the package, while Love did. Second, it is clear that the voters (who voted Amendment One down in dramatic fashion) have long gotten over the whole thing, as Riley was easily re-nominated and re-elected. As such, this is a pretty weak line of attack by Smith.

The general reader should keep note of Alabama’s second district, as it is very possible that the Democrats will pick up the seat in the deep red state of Alabama. The winner of the Smith/Love contest will face Montgomery Mayor and blue dog Democrat Bobby Bright in the general election.