After North Alabama's big win, will governor's race turn focus South?

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (left) and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle (right) speak during a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, in Montgomery, Ala., announcing a Toyota-Mazda automotive manufacturing plant coming to Limestone County. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

North Alabama has been on a roll in this early portion of 2018, and some of it has come at the expense of coastal Alabama.

Highlights include:

  • Toyota and Mazda announced Wednesday that they'll build a $1.6 billion auto manufacturing plant in Limestone County. The companies preferred the location for logistical purposes,
  • Gov. Kay Ivey announced
  • And Mobile's only pro sports team, the Class AA minor league baseball BayBears, apparently is headed north.

When it comes to big economic wins of late, coastal Alabama - home of some of the state's fastest population growth - clearly is trailing the Tennessee Valley. And it might be reopening a few wounds and causing some hard feelings that will spill over into the state's 2018 elections.

'Sun over the Gulf'

Two years ago, state lawmakers from the coast butted heads with northern lawmakers over how to divide the state's $1 billion BP settlement, a one-time windfall. The northern side mostly got its way, forcing a deal that draws the ire of the coast's local politicians to the present day.

In the words of Baldwin County Commissioner Chris Elliott, a candidate for state Senate this year, "They robbed us out of BP funding."

Baldwin County's soaring growth is more or less unrivaled in the state: From 1960 to 2014, the population increased three-fold, mostly in Baldwin's southern half, transforming a once-sleepy region between Interstate 10 and the Gulf.

And it's become one of the foundation stones upholding Republican dominance of state political offices.

This year, gubernatorial candidates are expected to flock to Baldwin during the campaign. The top two Republicans, in terms of fundraising, are Gov. Kay Ivey (who has amassed $2.3 million in contributions) and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle (who has raised about $1.5 million).

Both are already talking up their devotion to the coast.

Brent Buchanan, a representative for Ivey's campaign, pointed to an introductory line in the governor's State of the State speech: "I declare that the state of the state is strong and our future is as bright as the sun over the Gulf."

More tangibly, Buchanan said the governor is committed to the coastal region and "has proved so with contributions for Airbus' Aviation Education Center, more public land protection for Dauphin Island and support for the Gulf State Park project, and millions in road funding."

The Gulf State Park complex, anchored by a hotel and conference center facing the Gulf of Mexico between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, could open later this year.

Battle's campaign, meanwhile, is looking for more opportunities to introduce him to coastal voters.

Said Battle campaign spokesman Nick Lough: "Baldwin and Mobile counties are vital to Huntsville's success. North Alabama would not have the ability to attract some of our jobs projects if the Port (of Mobile) wasn't around. The communities are more connected than ever and that's a good thing for Alabama."

Battle's campaign also said the mayor, if elected governor, will be able to find the right "major employer" to fill the South Alabama Megasite in Bay Minette.

"Why? Look no further than what just happened this week with the Toyota-Mazda announcement at the Huntsville Megasite," said Lough. "He was at the head of the table during months of negotiations. He gets it and understand that if he can get Mobile and Baldwin headed in the same type of direction, then they'll achieve even greater economic success."

'Friends and neighbors'

As longtime political observers note, Battle is pretty much an unknown on the coast.

"There is no doubt that Tommy Battle must be seen as something other than the mayor of Huntsville," said Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University.

Steve Flowers, a former Republican in the Legislature who writes a political column published in more than 60 newspapers in Alabama, said Battle's lack of statewide name ID puts Ivey "in the catbird seat right now."

But Flowers also touts an old political theory of "friends and neighbors voting." According to the theory, candidates may glad-hand all over, but they'll win or lose depending on how many votes they pile up in their home territory.

A good example of this might be John McMillan's victory in the 2010 GOP runoff for agriculture commissioner against Dorman Grace.

McMillan, who lives in Baldwin's Stockton community, grabbed nearly 40,000 more votes than Dorman in Mobile and Baldwin counties, and it was that margin that largely determined the outcome.

"There is just no way anymore for a statewide candidate for the Republican primary to ignore Mobile and Baldwin counties," said McMillan, who is running for state treasurer this year.

This year, the only gubernatorial candidate who's from the coast is state Sen. Bill Hightower, R-Mobile.

Hightower gained a measure of regional renown in 2016 when he helped lead efforts among southern lawmakers in to collect more of the BP settlement.

In an interview this past week, he said that the split between north and sound can rear its head far beyond the Statehouse in Montgomery. Hightower said during the annual Paris Air Show pilgrimage, in which Alabama politicians travel to France to meet with aerospace suppliers, the northern and southern lawmakers often split up and host separate receptions: The northern lawmakers meeting with Boeing, while southern lawmakers chumming with Airbus.

Said Hightower, "We need to sell ourselves as one Alabama and not let companies outside the state control how we control our business, and that's a tragedy to me."

Obviously, Hightower's home address in the Mobile area makes him no sure bet to win over coastal voters. In last year's Senate Republican Party primary, state Sen. Trip Pittman of Montrose finished a distant third in Mobile and Baldwin counties behind Roy Moore and Luther Strange.

'Open for tourism'

Like Ivey and Battle, other gubernatorial candidates from outside the coast are pitching their attachment and loyalty to the region.

Scott Dawson, a GOP candidate who's a youth pastor in Birmingham, is calling for tax benefits that could help spur coastal tourism even higher.

Dawson said that Alabama needs to be at a competitive advantage over Florida and Tennessee when it comes to luring non-profit groups and religious institutions for conventions. He said he would like to offer them tax exemptions at hotels.

Dawson said that the state also should create tax breaks for Alabama families who stay in the state for vacations, perhaps in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach rather than Sandestin and Panama City.

"Of course, there would have to be guidelines for nights and you cannot make it a free-for-all," he said. The point, Dawson said, is to declare to the rest of the state, "Our Gulf Coast is open for tourism."

On the Democratic side, Sue Bell Cobb - the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice - has a similar vision in that she wants to make Alabama "more competitive with Florida and Mississippi" when it comes to tourism.

"Florida has the advantage of decades of marketing. Mississippi has the advantage of casinos," said Cobb. "We can be creative and more strategic with our marketing efforts."

Cobb and Democrat Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, who are the two most well-funded Democrats in the running, both say that leveraging the Port of Mobile is important. Cobb says she's "committed to deepening and widening" the port's channel.

Maddox said he is pushing for "preserving and protecting" the coastal areas environmental assets will assist in promoting the regions' economy.

He shares the frustration among coastal Alabama lawmakers about the BP oil spill allocation, referencing the terrible tornadoes that shattered Tuscaloosa in 2011.

"As governor, I will ensure that funds from a presidential disaster are invested into areas who earned it through their suffering," Maddox said. "I know the immense challenges of recovering from a natural disaster. Understanding this perspective, I believe it to be unfair that coastal Alabama had to forfeit so much of the BP money to the state coffers because of a lack of fiscal management in Montgomery."

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