Tim James

On November 10th, the Rainy Day Patriots (the group organized in conjunction with Birmingham Tea Parties) and Campaign for Liberty hosted a gubernatorial debate in Springville, Alabama. All of the announced candidates were invited, four committed to the event, and three actually showed. The debate was moderated by local talk show host Matt Murphy and a representative from each of the sponsoring organizations.

During the debate, Robert Bentley, Tim James and Bill Johnson all presented themselves as fiscal conservatives. However, one of these candidates decisively won the straw poll following the debate. Here is how the votes broke down:

• Johnson 6%
• Byrne     4%
• Bentley 12%
• James  72%

While the cast of players has significantly changed, I still stand by my earlier statement that Tim James is the guy to watch because he IS a fiscal conservative and not just another Republican trying to sound like one in order to pick up votes from Tea Party folks, libertarians, fiscally conservative independents, Reagan Democrats and Ron Paul supporters.

In my opinion, the key reason James dominated the straw poll results is because he mentioned the Federal Reserve and Keynesian economics in his opening statement, which I clipped for your viewing pleasure. The entire debate is available on video here.

While at an Alabama Eagle Forum banquet on Friday night, I was fortunate enough to grab a few minutes alone with 2010 Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James.  While James doesn't have a long and padded political resume, he's the son of former Governor Fob James and is well known in conservative circles in the state.  He's been significantly increasing his public appearances and media exposure, of late.

When I had the opportunity, I asked James if I could ask him a quick question.  "Sure," he replied.  The question I lobbed at him was whether or not he would absolutely commit to not increasing taxes if elected governor.