By: Josh Kraushaar

Unaccustomed to competitive congressional elections in recent years, Alabama is now set to host two spirited House races this fall after Republicans chose their nominees in runoffs Tuesday.

In the 2nd District, based in southeastern Alabama, state Rep. Jay Love defeated state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, 53 percent to 47 percent, and will now face one of the most highly touted Democratic recruits, Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, in the race to succeed GOP Rep. Terry Everett. In the 5th District, based in northern Alabama, Republicans nominated insurance executive Wayne Parker to face Democratic state Sen. Parker Griffith.

Love was the GOP establishment favorite in the 2nd District, as evidenced by his support from the Republican House leadership. In June, Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma hosted a fundraiser on Love’s behalf after the primary — and Cole, Boehner and House Deputy Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia each donated $5,000 to his campaign.

But their active support is also recognition that this conservative-minded seat in the Wiregrass Region, which gave President Bush 67 percent of the vote in 2004, is not as safely Republican as it has been in the past.

Leading Republicans openly backed Love because of his ability to self-finance his campaign — he already has loaned himself $650,000 — and the belief that his Montgomery-area legislative base positioned him better against Bright in the general election.

“Being from [the Montgomery area] will give me an advantage as opposed to a candidate from another part of the district,” said Love. “I have a constituency base here that might have gone to Bobby Bright if another candidate was nominated.”

Democrats, however, are bullish about Bright’s ability to compete. Elected to three terms as a nonpartisan mayor, Bright has won accolades for revitalizing the city’s downtown since taking over in 1999. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put him on its Red to Blue list of top recruits.

Bright has been touting his socially conservative pedigree and a record of balancing budgets while keeping a distance from his party’s presidential nominee in a district where Barack Obama is not viewed favorably.

“This is a guy who defies party, and he has a lot to say about the rejuvenation of Montgomery,” said Bright’s pollster, John Anzalone. “Jay Love is going to try and make Bobby out to be some liberal, while in reality he’s a conservative guy. He’s pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and he’s balanced every budget he’s ever had.”

Anzalone has reason to be optimistic — he polled for the two Democrats, Reps. Don Cazayoux of Louisiana and Travis Childers of Mississippi — who won special elections this year in similarly conservative Southern districts. The 2nd District has something else in common with those districts — the presence of a sizable African-American population, nearly 30 percent, which will likely turn out in larger numbers for Democrats during this presidential year.

Democrats also believe that the GOP’s acrimonious primary could leave lasting scars. Ronnie Gilley, a prominent local developer and Smith supporter, went so far as to air a radio ad featuring country singer George Jones calling Love “a plain ol’ liar.”

Smith previewed a Democratic line of attack when she aired a television ad, with footage of Gov. Bob Riley (R), that accused Love of voting to give tax breaks to Big Oil.

Everett, the outgoing congressman who has represented the district since 1992, asked both candidates to stop attacking each other in the final week of the runoff, saying the campaign “has taken a highly negative and unacceptable path.”

“It’s your dream of what you want: the two Republicans beating themselves up,” said Anzalone. “Love comes limping into the general, his unfavorables have risen, and now he has to start fundraising. And that’s where we want to be.”

But as the mayor of Alabama’s second-largest city, Bright carries his own baggage. Republicans have accused him of presiding over an increase in the city’s homicide rate and raising taxes as mayor.

In an interview with Politico, Love hinted that Bright’s mayoral record will be a central part of his campaign message.

“Last year, we had close to the all-time [highest] murder rate in this city. Crime is a real issue for the citizens in the city of Montgomery. That’s why there are a lot of people that have left the city and are moving to the suburbs,” said Love. “And we’re living in a city with a 10 percent sales tax — the highest in the state, as far as I know.”

Bright raised $346,000 in the just-completed fundraising quarter, giving him $150,700 cash on hand. Love ended the quarter with just $91,000 in his campaign at the end of June. But his ability to self-finance should allow him to close the financial gap.

The northern Alabama district held by retiring Democratic Rep. Bud Cramer will feature a matchup between Parker, the party’s unsuccessful nominee in 1994 and 1996, and Griffith, who represents the district’s population base of Huntsville in the state Senate.

Parker handily defeated businesswoman Cheryl Baswell Guthrie, 79 percent to 21 percent, in Tuesday’s runoff.

Though the district favors Republicans at the presidential level, one Alabama-based GOP operative acknowledged that it retains a populist mind-set that has made it more hospitable to Democrats running in down-ballot races.

Despite the region’s partisan shift to Republicans over the past two decades, Democrats have hung on in northern Alabama, with Democrats in possession of six of the seven state Senate seats and 13 of the 17 state House seats within the boundaries of the congressional district. No Republican has represented the district since Reconstruction.

“That’s a good district at the presidential level, but the Republican brand is not at its highest point, even in Alabama,” said the operative. “It’s a just a tough district for Republicans. … It’s the type of district Bush does well in, but it’s also the type of seat where you can end up beating your head against the wall trying to flip it.”

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