by Paul Rockne

The most interesting game on this weekend’s SEC college football schedule has probably already been played – Thursday night when Auburn escaped the trap set by Steve Spurrier in Columbia, S.C.

No. 2-ranked Auburn managed to eek out a 24-17 lead over Spurrier’s Gamecocks, but needed some luck to do it. The luck came in the form of an onsides kick that the Tigers used to regain possession of the ball after scoring a field goal on a nine-minute drive to open the third quarter.

Auburn had held a slim 14-10 lead at the halftime intermission, with South Carolina claiming the momentum by scoring at the end of the half. After the opening drive in the second half produced just 3 points, AU’s Coach Tommy Tuberville must have figured his defense would have a hard time stopping the Gamecocks and felt a 17-10 lead was not sufficient.

The gamble was a big one and paid off big, with the War Eagles holding the ball for the rest of the third quarter and scoring their third TD on the first play of the fourth period.

South Carolina proved Tuberville’s fears correct by mounting two drives in the fourth period, the first one ending in a touchdown that moved the score to 24-17 and the second one ending with an Auburn interception in the end zone with seconds to play in the game.

South Carolina may have lost the game, but the Gamecocks served notice to the rest of their opponents. Spurrier’s magic is working and South Carolina showed that it will be able to move the ball against any opponent. And its defense held the Auburn offense in check most of the time. Carolina ended up with more yards, more plays and more first downs than the Tigers.

The next biggest game of the weekend has to be today’s CBS matchup between Alabama and Florida (2:30 p.m.)
Read the rest of this entry »

by Glynn Wilson

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 28 – As president George W. Bush made a closed, big money only campaign fund-raising appearance for Republican Gov. Bob Riley at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Lt Gov. Lucy Baxley held a free, public rally just up the street in Lynn Park between City Hall and the Jefferson County Courthouse, where she took on the president and the governor as big time corporate politicians who ignore the needs of normal, working people.

“The contrast in this campaign is obvious here today. It is the stark contrast between big dollars verses the people,” Ms. Baxley said. “Access to the government is not supposed to be up for sale to the highest bidder.”

Photo by Glynn Wilson

New Orleans musician Ricky Castrillo entertains the crowd at Lynn Park during Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley’s campaign stop.

To obtain entry into the Bush-Riley fund raiser, the estimated 2,000 guests had to pay a minimum of $250 to get in the room. And they had the option of paying $500 or even $1,000 to get closer to the president, plus an undisclosed sum to have a snap shot taken with Bush. In the past the amount has been reported in a range of from $15,000 to as much as $50,000.

Ms. Baxley’s campaign offered free hotdogs to the public in the park, and she shared the stage with sailor Damien Moore and his new bride Mandy Moore. The couple chose the day to get married outside the courthouse, and said they supported the Democrat over the Republican in the Alabama governor’s race.

“We love Lucy,” Ms. Moore said.

Ms. Baxley described Bush’s visit as bad timing at the height of the campaign season and a rip off for taxpayers, since all the taxpayers pick up the tab every time the president flies Air Force One.

“This costs all the taxpayers all over the state,” Ms. Baxley said. “It’s an extravagant show, but a show that proves Riley is about big money. Government is supposed to be the servant of the people, not just for those who can afford it most.”

She urged the people in attendance to go out and work to recruit people to vote for her. If she is elected, she said, she will prove that “big dollars cannot buy the government.”

While Bush was dropping all kinds of interesting bombs that will never be reported in the local press or the mainstream media anywhere, Ms. Baxley’s event drew an interesting local celebrity supporter.

Former Libertarian and Birmingham City Councilman Jimmy Blake showed up in support of Baxley, and said he did so because Bush and Riley have allowed big corporations and insurance companies to take over the Republican Party and the government.

“I do not support this government (of Bush and Riley),” Blake said. “It’s the big corporate coalition.”

To prove it, he said, just look at what the Birmingham News supports. Former Gov. “Big Jim” Folsom called it the paper of the “Big Mules,” meaning the large corporations, and not much has changed in Birmingham since the 1950s in that respect. The paper endorsed Bush in 2000 and 2004, and endorsed Riley in 2002 and during the Republican Party primary this spring.

Baxley just laughed when a local reporter asked about the Riley campaign’s comment that her inclusion of a cardboard cutout of Bush was a joke.

“Of course it was a joke. But look, no one here wants to have their picture taken with Bush. No one is doing it,” she said, and walked off toward her next campaign stop.

The Associated Press is now leading their local reporting on the Baxley event by underestimating the size of the crowd, and by interviewing anti-Bush activists for not even bothering to protest Bush’s visit. Between 150 and 200 people gathered in Lynn Park for the event. The Montgomery Advertiser reporter, formerly with the Birmingham Post-Herald, thought it was more like 250.

Many Anti-Bush Activists Skip Protests During President’s Visit

Meanwhile Back At The Bush Ranch

Did anyone else see what the president said during his visit to Hoover about using wood chips to make biofuel? Switchgrass is one thing. Is there a secret plan by the paper companies, which own most of Alabama’s forests already, to plow down all the woods in America so Bush’s corporate friends can make piles of money on alternative fuels?

I asked Ms. Baxley about her stand on the environment since she was in the real estate business before going into public service in state government. We are planning a trip to the Gulf Coast Oct. 7-12 for the bird migration, to check up on the overdevelopment of Alabama’s coast and to do our own private hunt for the ivory-billed woodpecker recently heard in the Florida panhandle.

But Ms. Baxley’s response was vague and general, which may explain why none of the people from the Black Warrior Riverkeepers party Wednesday night were in attendance.

“We need to let the people of Alabama enjoy the coastal area,” Ms. Baxley said. “And we need to protect our environmental needs at the same time.”

Perhaps a more concerted effort to let the tens of thousands of people in Alabama who are concerned about the state’s environment know that she really cares might help her campaign in the final month.

For staters, what’s this plan to turn wood chips into biofuel?

(Note: Blake also had some interesting things to say about Riley’s grassroots campaign manager Bill Johnson, but we are saving that for a larger story in the works to come out before the November election).