Republican nominee Robert Bentley talks illegal immigration in “I Will Not Wait.”

In “Chance,” Democratic nominee Ron Sparks focuses on… wait for it! An education lottery.

Sparks hosts former president Bill Clinton today at a $1,000-a-person fundraiser at Birmingham’s The Summit Club today at 1pm. Wednesday he campaigned across the state with retired general and 2004 Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark.

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The Tuscaloosa dermatologist says the people who come up to shake his hand or get a photograph or an autograph shows, in his mind, support is building. Polling by Rasmussen Reports in recent weeks suggests the same.

Bentley, who has pledged to not take a salary until Alabama reaches full unemployment, says his job creation plan is both short term and long term. Short term is based on tax breaks for businesses who rehire laid off workers.

Long-term, he says, is more tax breaks, limiting “unwarranted lawsuits” and keeping Alabama a “right to work” state.

When asked how long it will take him to reduce the state’s unemployment if he is elected governor in November, Bentley suggested “it’s going to take months, rather than weeks.”

This morning on FOX6 News Good Day Alabama, Bentley vowed to remain focused on jobs if elected governor.

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It’s Time showcases his 2010 Reemployment Act and vows to create and protect Alabama jobs.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey meanwhile shows Bentley’s biggest lead yet in a general election matchup with Democrat Ron Sparks.

Rasmussen shows a 58%-34% lead for Bentley over Sparks.

Bentley leads Sparks among independent voters by a 56% margin among likely voters.

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Appearing on WSFA 12 News Alabama Live, Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert Bentley said when it comes to resolving the issue of gambling in the state, he trusts the people of Alabama.  Bentley promised to do away with the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling. “All these gambling laws were put in place by a vote of the people,” he said. “They were constitutional amendments.  The only way we can change these is by a vote of the people…that’s what I’m for. I trust the people of Alabama.”

Bentley then made the transition to what he considers to be the “real” problem in Alabama, “putting people back to work.”   The Tuscaloosa dermatologist said he wants to expand industry. “I want to have real jobs, clean jobs,” he said.  “I’m not going to concentrate on the gambling issue.”

So how will he create new jobs in a state suffering with 10% unemployment?  “We’ll give tax breaks to industries and let them hire the people,” he said.  “That’s who creates jobs in Alabama.  We need to allow companies to create new jobs.”  Bentley referred to the Reemployment Act of 2010 which he sponsored in the Alabama Legislature.  The bill gives tax breaks to businesses that hire unemployed Alabamians.  He says it can put “five or six thousand people back to work.”

On the broad subject of improving and funding education in the state, Bentley said, “This is a time where we can find deficiencies in government and see what needs to be continued and what does not.”  Bentley says the state needs to change its budgeting formula.  He said he favors a 15-year rolling average which “smooths out all the different ups and downs.” 

He believes something must be done to control health care costs for teachers.  “I love health saving accounts,” said Bentley. “Indiana and Michigan have tried that with teachers and saved $100-million.  We can do that in Alabama.”

He wants to “bring every unearmarked agency that we have in Alabama before the Education Appropriations Committee and make them justify their existence.”  He said, “If they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing they should be done away with.”

When asked about his connection with the Alabama Education Association and whether he thought his win in the primary was becasue of attack ads on Bradley Byrne, Bentley said, ” There was a personal battle between Bradley Byrne and the AEA, but that had nothing to do with my winning.  Our polling  shows that all the people, or almost all the people that voted for me would have voted for me regardless.”

Bentley faces Democrat Ron Sparks in the November General Election.

During an interview on WSFA 12 News Alabama Live, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks said, “The state of Alabama is broke.  I am a candidate for governor that’s trying to find some solutions to the problems we have in Alabama.”

For Sparks, the quickest and perhaps the most popular approach to improving the state’s finances  would be through taxes and fees from gambling.  From the beginning, the current Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries has campaigned on establishing an education lottery and taxing existing electronic bingo operations.

Sparks vows his first act after taking office will be to scrap the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling. “I’ve been against it the whole time,” he said. “I will dismantle the Task Force and put these people back to work.  We’re going to start taxing and regulating this industry.”

When asked if he thought the electronic bingo machines are illegal, Sparks said, “I don’t think they’re illegal.  I think you’ve seen judges all across the state of Alabama that have ruled that they are legal.  I think you’ve seen District Attorneys that have said that they’re legal.  Certainly, the governor and the (Alabama) Supreme Court have deemed that they are illegal…but I disagree.”

Sparks took another swipe at Governor Bob Riley saying, “There have been more video and gaming machines come to the state of Alabama under governor Bob Riley’s administration than all the governors put together.  He has sat back and watched these facilities be built.  He knew what was going on.  And in the last months of his campaign he’s decided that he’s going to go out and be relentless and put these folks out of work.”

The Ag Commissioner concluded saying, “…the people of Alabama need a choice and we’re going to give them the opportunity to vote on it.”

When asked about funding schools and other state agencies suffering from the sluggish economy, Sparks said, “I don’t look at going into the governor’s office to start cutting.  That’s an easy thing to do.  What we’ve got to do is find a way to fund some of the problems we’ve got in this state.”

Sparks faces Republican candidate, Robert Bentley in the November General Election.

The survey conducted July 22nd shows Bentley with a 3 to 1 edge among independents.

Similar to an Alabama Senate survey released yesterday, if you think the economy is improving you’re more likely to support the Democrat. If you think the economy is declining, you back the Republican.

Fifty-seven percent approve of the job Bob Riley is doing as governor.

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The Baselice and Associates poll on behalf of Public Strategy Associates shows Bentley 53% to Byrne’s 33%.

The survey shows Bentley leading in every category from “very conservative” to “moderate/liberal,” male and female, 18 to 70+.

Baselice finds Bentley with a comfortable lead even in the Mobile television market where Byrne lives.

Read the full poll here.

Earlier Thursday, the Byrne campaign promoted an internal poll that showed Byrne leading Bentley by a four point average for this week.

In the Republican runoff for Agriculture Commissioner, 45-percent say they are undecided. That leaves the race wide open for Dorman Grace (28%) and John McMillian (27%).

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Own Two Feet comes eight days before the Republican runoff for governor.

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While Bradley Byrne may have gotten a head start in the race to the runoff, he needn’t relax because Robert Bentley is taking off like a torpedo and he is heading straight for Dexter Avenue. When the  mostly unknown dermatologist and state representative from Tuscaloosa entered the governor’s race last spring most people never expected he could potentially become the republican nominee for governor beating out the state’s former 2 year college chancellor and commonly know, Ten Commandments Judge, Roy Moore.

Bentley’s grassroots approach was reminiscent of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in 2008. Bentley, much like Paul, had very little name recognition but after running a clean campaign and putting in a lot of leg work would go on to make a splash at the ballot box. While campaign rivals Tim James and Bradley Byrne were busy arguing over “common sense” issues like what language Alabama’s driver’s license test should be given in and whose daddy helped him get a job building a bridge, Robert Bentley’s light began to shine brighter in the state of Alabama.

The doctor from Tuscaloosa who vowed not to accept a pay check as governor until Alabama reached FULL, yes FULL, employment never went negative and the voters noticed. In the last two weeks of any campaign season it is impossible to avoid watching at least one or two negative campaign ads but Alabama’s dark horse candidate never went negative and now he has a chance to tackle Ron Spark’s in the general election in November.

So what makes a candidate go negative? Do they think the voters enjoy hearing one candidate beat up on another? Usually candidates go negative because another campaign has launched an attack against them. In the case of Bradley Byrne, he was being attacked by a political action committee called the True Republican PAC. This PAC, funded in part by the Alabama Education Association (AEA) and a Tim James campaign employee, alleged that Byrne was a flip flopping democrat trial lawyer who believed in evolution. Byrne in return launched an ad disputing those claims but negative ads tend to be all consuming like quick sand, one leads to another and another and another. By the June 1^st primary James and Byrne were trading cheap shots in multiple ads even being critical of family members, primarily James’s father, the former Governor of Alabama.

On June 1^st when Bentley was clearly the nominee for the runoff in July, it appeared that Byrne would try to run a clean campaign since his primary nemesis was out of the running. Unfortunately for Byrne, his friends at the Alabama Education Association (AEA) and the True Republican PAC would make that nearly impossible. The AEA launched a campaign to make democratic voters aware that they were eligible to vote in the republican runoff even though they voted in the democratic primary. This attempt by the AEA was to stock Bentley supporters at the polls on July 13th. With just three weeks until the runoff, it is unclear what other tricks the True Republican PAC and AEA might pull to oust Byrne from the running.

In return Byrne has now launched his first negative ad for the runoff and this time Robert Bentley is the one being attacked. Byrne’s ad pegs Bentley as a liberal AEA follower who voted to allow a convicted teacher to continue receiving pay. Now the real question is…Will Bentley respond?

Byrne has not published the attack ad on his webpage or YouTube site, but Docs Political Parlor has the ad, HERE is the link.

The AP reports today16 boxes of ballots were found unsealed. The AP story quotes Rep. Arthur Payne (R-Trussville) as saying the sheriff’s department explained to him seals are sometimes improperly secured or damaged when transported. Rep. Payne is monitoring the JeffCo recount for Rep. Bentley.

In a statement emailed to reporters this morning, Bentley campaign manager Bryan Sanders continued his criticism of the current process.

The email reads in part:

“The AP report confirming irregularities in the Jefferson County recount process makes it difficult to have confidence in this petition-based recount going forward.”

“Any discrepancies between the total number of votes cast in the recount and cast on election night need to be fully explained and understood or it will be impossible to have any confidence in the accuracy of the recount.”

State GOP spokesman Phillip Bryan says nearly half of the counties will hold the recount today. The remainder will hold the recount Wednesday with maybe two holding off until Thursday due to staffing issues.

Tim James paid for the recount after trailing Bentley by 167 votes. Bentley is set to face the June 1st primary leader, Bradley Byrne,  in a July 13th runoff.

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