In Alabama political history the Lt. Governor’s office has not been a good stepping stone to governor. Attorney general has been the better springboard, but the best launching pad especially in recent years has been to come out of nowhere.
Lucy Baxley may be poised to break several precedents if she moves from Lt. Governor to governor in 2006. She is definitely outworking any other potential candidates and she already begins with stratospheric name identification-polls reveal more than 80 percent. The most obvious precedent would be that she would have been the first female to become governor of Alabama on her own, if one acknowledges the fact that Lurleen Wallace won the governor’s race in 1966 as a stand-in candidate for her husband, George Wallace. Either way you look at Lurleen’s landslide ride to governor in 1966, she was indeed elected governor. Therefore, Lucy would be Alabama’s second female governor. When asked by people who I predict will be governor in 2006, I predict that Lucy will win. I further have predicted that Hillary Clinton will become the first female president in 2008. That was earlier this year when I made these two bold prognostications. Lucy may still be a safe bet but Hillary may be out of luck. It was assumed that George Bush would be reelected President as is usually the case for an incumbent. He may very well win, but it is a 50/50 race. Hillary could have probably had the Democratic nomination this year but she opted out to make the race in 2008 when the office would be incumbent free and wide open. She did not foresee Bush becoming as vulnerable as he is at this point.
