The Atmore Advance reached out to each of the two major political parties in Alabama. What follows is a transcript of some of our questions and their answers to the questions:

What are your expectations for the election in Alabama?

Bill Armistead, chairman, Alabama Republican Party:

“We have two goals here in Alabama. Number one is to elect the two Republicans that are running statewide that have Democrat opposition. The Democrats didn’t qualify anyone for most of the positions that are up this year, so we have those won by default. But there are two that they have challenged us on. One is the president of the public service commission, and our candidate is Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, and then the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is Judge Roy Moore. I think we’ll win both of those. Of course on the PSC race, we’ve got Lucy Baxley who has been in office for a number of years. I think most people realize it’s probably now time to make a change and Twinkle Cavanaugh has the experience and the economic development background that will utilize the PSC as a springboard to create more jobs. The PSC is basically there to regulate utilities and if we can keep utility rates low, that’s gonna’ help job creation because having served in Governor Hunt’s cabinet and having responsibility for economic development, I know companies look to find states they can operate in at the lowest possible cost. So, I know that utilities are a main thing. I think Twinkle Cavanaugh will work hard to keep utility rates down and at the same time, work hard to create new jobs. Then, on the other position of Chief Justice, Judge Roy Moore won the primary without a runoff, yet he had two formidable Republicans that he was running against, the current Chief Justice Chuck Malone. Also, we had Attorney General and current Circuit Judge Charlie Graddick out of Mobile was an opponent. Judge Moore won that overwhelmingly without a runoff. So, I feel like the people in Alabama are very supportive of Judge Moore. When you look at his opponent, you’re looking at someone that’s, what I call, ‘Obama-lite’ because he was an Obama protégé … I think he’ll rejected based on his ties with the President right now. We also have local elections, like in Escambia County.”

Bradley Davidson, Executive Director, Alabama Democrats:

“The most important thing for us right now is the fact that we have a very hotly contested court Chief Justice race. We have a tremendous candidate in Judge Bob Vance, but I think we’re doing very well. We have high hopes for him on Tuesday. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court does more than just hearing cases. They administer the entire court statewide as the Chief Justice Officer for the court system. Our court system is very stressed right now due to budgetary issues. Without access to the courts, people often suffer. We’ve got a great candidate in Judge Vance. He’s an excellent administrator with a brilliant ethical mind, which is something important to people in the community. We need him … He has gone across the entire state and back many times and has spent a great deal of money on television getting his name out there. However, the polling that we see consistently, despite the fact that he might have less name recognition than Judge Moore, he is still dead even or ahead of Judge Moore. With the combination of the unfavorability of Judge Moore in the minds of Alabamaians and the increasing name I.D. based on the campaign Judge Vance is doing, we’re going to win that race.”

For the complete story, see the Saturday, Nov. 3 edition of The Atmore Advance.