Word: alabamas
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...following year in Davis' life was instructive for the fledgling politician. Then just 31, Davis announced plans to challenge Earl Hilliard Sr., the first African-American elected to Congress from Alabama since Reconstruction. Davis was largely dismissed as an upstart who hadn't paid his dues by winning a lower-tier office. Despite being hailed by the Birmingham News as a "leader for the future," Davis lost. He attributed defeat to having raised barely $100,000. The next time he ran, in 2002, Davis had become adept at raising money, benefitting from donations from American Jewish groups concerned about Hilliard...
...bill to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border, a measure that divided Democrats. The previous year, he followed his party in supporting a bill to halt restrictions on federal spending on embryonic stem cell research. He also showed an independent streak: Even as much of Alabama's Democratic establishment, including its black caucus, backed then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state's Democratic presidential primary, Davis endorsed Obama. (Obama won.) In the days after Obama's victory last November, there was talk that Davis would be the President-elect's attorney general nominee. But Davis was already weighing...
...Many Alabama politicos were surprised by Davis' February announcement to run for governor. Some hoped he'd first prove he could win a mid-level statewide office. He scoffs at such talk, and says, "I didn't go to see people in Montgomery to get permission to run for governor, and I won't. I'm trying to get permission from the people I'm seeing today - the voters." Davis says he did not expect support from the state's Democratic establishment - and that helped him decide to announce his candidacy early. He needs as much time as possible...
...African Methodist Episcopal faith; he often attends a Baptist church and he describes himself as "a true ecumenist." From the crowd, there are questions, like: How would Davis, as governor, help make health insurance more available to folks who barely make $15,000 a year? And, why is Alabama consistently ranked near the bottom of the nation's education achievement tests, and what would Davis, as governor, do about it? "We pat ourselves on the back when we move from 46 to 42 in education," he tells the audience, standing in front of a large blue sign that says...
...trying to do is kind of difficult, right?' They mean different things when they say that. But ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to let other people talk about what we're not ready for. Or what they think we cannot do. I trust the people of Alabama - to vote with their imagination, not their fears...