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Alabamians to help decide presidential nominees Tuesday The presidential preference primary will be held Feb. 5 in Alabama. It will be the first Alabama primary in decades where voters' choices may have an impact on the eventual party nominees. "Usually it's pretty well decided by the time we vote on it in the primaries," said attorney Lee B. Williams of Grove Hill, Democratic Party chairman for Clarke County. Democrats have three major candidates to choose from: Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who has yet to win a primary. Republicans have four major candidates: Senator John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former N.Y. mayor Rudy Giuliani. Turnout may be light However, Williams is concerned there will be poor voter turnout Feb. 5. "You've got to have local elections in order to get a good turnout," he said. "I hope it is a good turnout," however, not everyone is excited about the candidates. "A lot of people are maybe discouraged by the candidates to some extent, both Republican and Democrat. People that I'm in contact with are not really excited about anyone." War and economy are issues Attorney Edmond McKinley of Thomasville is the chairman of the Republican Party in Clarke County. He sees three major issues facing voters in 2008: border security/ terrorism, the economy and the war in Iraq. These issues are being discussed by the GOP candidates in "a general way," he said. "I would like to see some more specific detailed discussion of their opinions. I think the Democrats are probably ignoring all of them, except the economy, to a great extent." Williams sees the war in Iraq as the most important issue for voters. "There needs to be some resolution to stop the tremendous injuries to our military and the great expense," he said. The next president must reduce debt and work toward a balanced budget, Williams said. In addition, "we need some kind of national health insurance. I don't know what it ought to be, but we spend millions of dollars overseas and we've got people in this country that are uninsured. Something ought to be done about that." Tax cuts an issue too There are also a lot of people concerned about making President George W. Bush's tax cuts permanent, McKinley said. "A lot of people have that in the back of their mind," he said. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois said on National Public Radio Monday morning that a vote on the tax cuts would not be taken up by Congress this year. "That's good politics for them (the Democrats)," McKinley said. Williams was in favor of limiting the tax cuts. Each Republican candidate has his strength on a particular issue, McKinley said. McCain is strong on defense; Romney is strongest on the economy. "Huckabee sort of takes a middle ground on all of them, except the military." McKinley was speaking before the results of the Jan. 29 Florida primary. He did not think Giuliani would be a viable candidate if he doesn't win in Florida. "I think Florida is going to really narrow (the field)," he said, "and Super Tuesday is going to give you a snapshot of the nation's feelings at large. After Super Tuesday, you're probably going to end up with two candidates." McKinley recently attended the GOP winter meeting in the state and sensed there were still a lot of people undecided about who they would support. With polls indicating that Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, how does the GOP best make its case for staying in the White House? "I think they need to stop listening to the rhetoric of a lot of national news organizations, newspapers and Democratic candidates," McKinley said. "(They) need to realize that up until the sub-prime mortgage banking dilemma, the economy was doing real well. "In Iraq, things have turned around a great deal." Will Alabama voters support a commitment in Iraq for the next decade? "There is some concern that we may be there too long if we stay a decade," McKinley said. "I think just because of the national security issue most Republicans in Alabama would like to see us stay long enough so that they (the Iraqis) can take control and we can get out without having a civil war or anarchy come back. "We've invested too many (lives), wounded soldiers and money just to get out because it is the politically convenient thing to do." "The accomplishments, if any, have been mighty small," Williams said of the war in Iraq. There will be strong opposition to a long commitment in Iraq.
In addition, McKinley said there needs to be a stronger commitment by GOP candidates on border security to attract voters.
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