According to Susan Fillippeli “Wow! What a turnout for the Lee County GOP banquet on Tuesday Night. Gov. Riley really fired up the crowd. Wonder where he learned to speak?”

Lee County Republican of the year is Charles Pick. Mike Hubbard commented that Our goal is to takeover AL Legislature.

Governor Bob Riley was fired up for the event saying: We are the foundation for the future. Obama policies will ruin Alabama’s global competitiveness. When Democrats have to pretend to be Republicans to influence elections- Republicans are winning! Alabama finally has a solid foundation in education. AL Reading Initiative has us headed toward top ten. (Source: Flips Facebook Page)

Did you see where the state GOP isn’t allowing Dr. Robert Bentley to use the name “Dr. Robert Bentley” on the ballot.  He’s got to drop the title doctor, although he apparently did change it to include the doctor part. Same for Roy Moore, no judge on his name on the ballot. And Dale “Cowboy” Peterson, we know you’re a cowboy, but not on the ballot.

Guess that’s why Steve “Redman” Penland isn’t running for anything this year, although I understand he may be running from a few things.

Former Alabama Lieutenant Governor Jere Beasley announced today that he will serve as Chairman of the Artur Davis for Governor Campaign.  “Throughout my involvement in Alabama politics over the years, I have witnessed Governors of all stripes; Republican and Democrats, liberal and conservative, but the best Governors had a definitive leadership quality.  I see that in Artur Davis and that’s why I’m proud to Chair his campaign for Governor,” Beasley said.  “I believe in Artur Davis’ ability to lead and bring people together to attract jobs and transform our state to unlock its full potential. He is the right man for the job, and I know that he can and will be Alabama’s next Governor.”  A veteran of Alabama politics, Beasley previously endorsed and supported Governors Bob Riley and Fob James, both Republicans.  In addition, Beasley served as Lieutenant Governor from 1971 – 1979, under Governor George Wallace.   (more…)

Congressman Artur Davis (D-Bham) officially entered the 2010 Alabama Governor’s race at a kick-off event in Birmingham’s Linn Park on Saturday.  Approximately 500 supporters gathered to hear Rep. Davis’ remarks, as well as a special performance by Alabama native, Ruben Studdard.  “While it has been an honor to serve in the United States Congress, today I officially start a new journey to become the next Governor of Alabama,” Davis said.  “I’m running for one simple reason: to transform Alabama’s economy to attract the jobs of the 21st Century, improve public schools and reform ethics laws to unlock the state’s full potential.”

Watch for more news on all the candidates for Alabama’s next Governor here on Opelika Daily News!

I thought I’d take a look at the post for the past year and see if there were any items worthy of mention here. So here goes!

January 19th we had our Big Snow! Who can forget the snowman contest as they popped up on car hoods all around town. Remember it here!  The Historic District Street Signs started going up in the downtown area in February.  Mayor Fuller defended the City Council decision to increase their pay beginning with the next Fiscal year.  Downtown railroad crossings also got some work.  February started with a much overdue colonoscopy with friend Debbie.   March was big with the return of the Rocky Brook Rocket, Garden in the Park, the Unity Run and Lions Pancake Day.  The city installed LED lights in all the city traffic lights.  The Red Cross Heroes Take Flight was at the airport and remember the quick snow storm?  In April I posted that picture of Charles Barkley and his buddy Redman.  It’s worth going to take another look at!  The Gourmet Beer Bill died again in the Alabama Senate!  Kids from Opelika Middle School took part in a special Saugahatchee Watershed project in Monkey Park.  John Robert and Laurel got married, the Opelika Bulldogs Baseball Team almost won it all, Noontunes returned to Courthouse Square for the 2nd Year, Summer Swing Kicked off and Opelika’s Downtown got a new  upholstery shop when Kenny opened his shop downtown on 9th Street!  Moving to June, I adopted Mitch from the Shelter, I took a few days off to head over to Savannah, Red Door June Coffee & Floral opened their doors and I was the first customer.  On to July, City Council called for a study for Municipal Broadband, City Election candidates were getting ready for the August election and Buddy Redman with other scaled the walls of an out of town friends house and hung out at their pool. And I was officially appointed to the Historic Commission for the City of Opelika.  Opelika’s first ever National Night Out kicked off August,  my first run at politics ended on a Tuesday Night with a loss, and the Lee County Red Cross opened shelters for people heading north to get away from Gustav. In September, gas prices continued to rise and at one point local stations ran out of gas as folks emptied the stations tanks. I think I decided to run for council in 2012 and Google introduced their web browser “Chrome”. October saw the introduction of the cities newest newspaper, the Opelika Observer.  That was also my adventure at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The City of Auburn cracked down on the evil Elks Club for having too many (that’s right) flags on their property. It was another On The Tracks filling the street downtown, great night!  November brought a new tree to downtown to become the City Christmas Tree.  Then there was that train derailment that was a somewhat non-event.  If you didn’t know the engine derailed, you couldn’t tell by looking at it from a block away.  I started writing a monthly contribution in the OA News, which normally appears the first Tuesday.  The City showed off a new fire truck!  Obama wins the race for president!  In December the usual Opelika events, Christmas in a Railroad Town, the Victorian Front Porch Tour, former co worker Captain Sandy (aka Joe Cox) died in Savannah.   I hope you take a little time and check out all the links scattered above to the stuff noted.

If you’ve wondered where the man get’s all his political wisdom, this picture should finally provide some answers.  Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District was in Opelika and visiting the Lee County Courthouse, where Redman was also going. 

Now, I’m going to leave it to you to figure out which person I’m talking about above, as some of you might say Rogers and others might say Redman.  Who left a smarter man after the brief encounter?