CNN) — A gay minister at the center of a row about his appointment to a church in a Scottish city said he was “humbled” after the Church of Scotland upheld his appointment.

Scott Rennie rehearses a sermon at Brechin Cathedral in northeast Scotland.

In a ground-breaking move, the church’s ruling body voted by 326 to 267 in support of the Rev. Scott Rennie, the church said in a news release Sunday.

The 37-year-old’s appointment at Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen, on Scotland’s northeast coast, provoked opposition from traditionalist members of the church and has led to fears it could cause a damaging split.

More than 400 Church or “Kirk” ministers and almost 5,000 Church of Scotland members are said to have signed an online petition, organized by the Fellowship of Confessing Churches, against the appointment, the BBC reported.

Papers lodged with the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly in Edinburgh claimed scriptures in the Old and New Testament describe same-sex activity as a “wrong choice,” the British Press Association said.

However, Rennie’s supporters argued that the Bible does not directly address homosexual relationships, which are now “essentially a feature of modern society.”

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In a statement released after Saturday night’s vote in the Scottish capital, Rennie said: “I am humbled that the General Assembly has recognized God’s call upon my life.”

Ewen Gilchrist, interim moderator at Queen’s Cross Church, was quoted by PA as saying: “It’s a good decision for the General Assembly to have made because it sends out a message that we desire to be welcoming, accepting and inclusive.

“The issue of sexual orientation and Scriptural authority is something that has to be wrestled with and cannot be hidden away

This is the an example win free speech can go O so wrong!!!

Down here in the Deep South, calls to bring back the hanging noose are coming from an unlikely source: a 62-year-old, black Republican mayoral candidate in Mississippi’s largest city.

Long-shot George Lambus acknowledges his inflammatory platform has made some residents of Jackson slam doors in his face. Others walked out of a church where he spoke. Yet he insists his tough stand is welcome in some quarters of a state capital racked by crime, much of it black-on-black.

As the only GOP hopeful among nearly a dozen Democrats and four independents, his chances of winning the June election are slim: the majority-black city of about 180,000 is so heavily Democratic that no Republican has won the mayor’s race in modern history. Yet, Lambus hopes to stand out in a crowded field by packing a silver pistol and talking bluntly about crime.

“Crime can only be alleviated by a noose and a stout tree limb,” Lambus wrote in one of several homemade flyers he passes out in Jackson neighborhoods. “I will provide the noose and when the economy improves, I will get the jobs here.”

The Mississippi Republican Party is not supporting Lambus. GOP Chairman Brad White said Lambus’ message doesn’t reflect “the values that we represent.”

“He’s already the novelty candidate,” explained Leslie Burl McLemore, the city council president.

Still, anti-crime campaigns have resonated in Jackson in recent years: incumbent Mayor Frank Melton won a landslide victory in 2005 on promises to get tough. The mayor even went armed on security patrols through tough neighborhoods. He is now charged with federal civil rights violations for allegedly leading a sledgehammer attack on a suspected crack house.

With his federal trial set to start days after the May 5 primary, Melton’s stand provoked such an uproar that several challengers are vying to unseat him. Yet Melton’s 2005 pledge to run the “thugs” out of town seems mild in comparison to Lambus’ calls for hangings and vigilante justice.

“Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree. Other blacks got tired of it … and they formed vigilantes and they killed people. It brought the crime down.”

His pistol nearby as he peered out a window at his decaying Jackson neighborhood, Lambus added: “When you cut your yard, carry a gun. When you go to church, carry a gun. When you go to school, carry a gun.”

Lambus also asserts that executions are the only way to control crime, adding “If we look at the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, it’s driven with blood.”

Some are offended by such bold talk from Lambus, a former union official who said he has battled illness, lives off Social Security and ran unsuccessfully for the state senate and city council in the 1980s.

“I don’t think anybody in their right mind is going to pay any attention to this guy,” said Jackson resident Vernon Archer, a former college professor in his 60s, who is black. “It’s offensive, but it’s so ridiculous you don’t even know how to get mad.”

Still, Lambus has been invited to at least two debates in April. And as the lone GOP candidate, Lambus is expected to automatically advance as the Republican candidate while Democrats and independents jockey and jostle in the May primary to decide who reaches the June ballot.

Lambus lives not far from the suspected crackhouse that Melton, as mayor, is charged with damaging in a vigilante raid in August 2006. Lambus charges that Melton was showboating and didn’t live up to his promise to clean up the city’s crime.

It’s not clear if Melton will be on the ballot. He is suing a Democratic committee for removing his name over alleged residency problems.

Political scientist Marty Wiseman, director of Mississippi State University’s Stennis Institute of Government, said the Republicans have shied away from fielding a serious contender for mayor.

“They’re being fairly realistic because of what the numbers say,” Wiseman said. “Jackson’s voting patterns, I would assume, are going to mimic those of African-Americans in state elections, which has stayed around 90 percent or more Democratic.”

And Wiseman said Lambus’ message will not help his chances, adding “certainly someone that confrontational has no chance whatsoever.”

SOURCE: Huffington Post

A Message About Today’s Loss
Today, a little after our 8:15 service began, a man entered First Baptist Church and fired several gunshots at our Senior Pastor, Dr. Fred Winters. Pastor Winters was taken to the hospital but died of his wounds.

Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, our two brave members who were injured when they stopped the assailant, for the assailant himself and his family, and for our church members as they deal with this tragic loss.

In this day, where uncertainty seems to abound creating an environment in which people are vulnerable in doing things they might not do otherwise, one thing is certain, we, as human beings need a foundation upon which we can live our lives. We at First Baptist Maryville, along with other Christian believers, share this conviction: that foundation is God’s Word. In the pages of the Book we call the Bible, we find the pathway for peace, hope, and a quality of living life despite what circumstances we find ourselves in.

To those who believe in the power of prayer, we covet your prayers right now.

Prayer Service Information
Due to the limited size of the auditorium at Metro Community Church, our prayer service this evening will be reserved for our members only. We would appreciate everyone continuing to pray for those injured in the attack this morning and their families and for our church as we deal with this tragic loss.

News media contact can be made through the church switchboard 618-667-8221 or by contacting Marty King at 217-720-8118.

Pastor Mark Jones
Minister of Worship, FBC

Source: http://www.fbmaryville.org/

“I don’t want to hear anymore [sic] language trying to be cool about the bling in the stimulus package or appealing to D.L. Hughley and blacks in a way that isn’t going to win us any votes and makes us frankly appear to many blacks as quite foolish,” Fisher wrote.

The paper says Fisher is one of three black members of the RNC and supported South Carolina chairman Katon Dawson in the Jan. 30 election for national party chairman.

As we and others reported, Steele apologized this week to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh after telling CNN host D.L. Hughley that Limbaugh is an entertainer whose show is sometimes incendiary and ugly. It was the latest in a series of awkward moments.

Source: USA Today

We have to do better as a country in moving past these issues that divide with people losing their homes or loved one in Iraq we dont need this!!!

An email ripe with racist slurs — crudely presented as a mock debate between President Obama and Sen. John McCain — sent by a member of Staten Island’s Community Education Council to dozens of recipients, including other members of the public schools’ parent advisory board, is stirring outrage among African American leaders, who anonymously received a copy of the offensive communiqué and plan to take action.
The mock photo strip, sent Jan. 4 by Salvatore Ballarino, the borough president’s appointee to the volunteer board, features cartoon-like speech balloons drawn out of McCain’s mouth referencing lynching African Americans and equating African American babies with excrement.

The widely forwarded email also questions black fathers’ ability to support their families and states Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles are always smiling, because they did not know they were black. After each “punch line” the cartoon-like strip shows a photo of Obama’s face, positioned in such a way to make him look stunned and dumbstruck.

Dozens of African American parents, school children and educators are expected to attend the meeting of the Community Education Council tonight at Petrides Educational Complex, Sunnyside, to question how somebody charged with representing all Staten Islanders could find the material funny, and then have the bad judgment to forward the email around.

“Jokes are jokes, but this goes beyond what you might regard as a harmless joke. This is very offensive,” said Edward Josey, the president of the Staten Island NAACP, noting the group decided at its meeting last week to make their feelings known publicly. “If he’s telling jokes of this nature, how sincere is he about educating all the children of Staten Island?”

Ballarino does not believe he did anything wrong or inappropriate.

“If they’re upset about something it’s their own inner workings — it’s what they want to make out of it,” said Ballarino, when reached yesterday at home. “It was a political cartoon; that’s how I treated it. What was funny about it was the look on Obama’s face, like he didn’t even know what he was talking about.”

Ballarino served as a member of the now-defunct Community School Board since 1993, and was appointed by Borough President James P. Molinaro, when the CECs replaced the school boards in 2004. During his tenure, he has headed a number of committees, most notably School Construction.

“Did anybody ever accuse of me of doing anything racist before? No,” he said. “I have black people who are my friends; I work with black people; I have black people sit at my dinner table with me.”

Ballarino said he similarly forwards jabs at other communities. “I get jokes and I send them. I get redneck jokes. I get Irish jokes. I get Italian jokes.”

Although he said he did not find the material he had sent particularly offensive, Ballarino did weigh in on the New York Post’s recent publication of a violent cartoon most viewed as mocking Obama, calling it “a little overboard.”

The email has brought to the fore long-held feelings among African Americans and other minority groups that decision-makers in Staten Island’s District 31 are not sufficiently attuned to their communities, he said.

There are currently no African American members of the Community Education Council.

“The voices of minority concerns in public schools are oftentimes overlooked,” wrote Tammy Greer Brown, the chairwoman of the NAACP education committee, in an email organizing tonight’s protest. “This email potentially violates all educational and civil rights laws that are currently in existence.”

The all-volunteer council does not have wide-ranging authority but is meant to act as liaison between parents and the city Department of Education.

Molinaro last night could not be reached for comment.

“If you want to tell jokes among your friends, don’t put it on the airways; you never know where emails will end up,” said Josey, who has known Ballarino for years in education circles. “I would view him differently now than I would at one time. He stepped beyond a line.”

Source: SILIVE.com

Joining a church doesn’t make sense for Jonathan Busarow right now. He’s a graduate student at Ohio State University who doesn’t know where he’ll live in a couple of years. He doesn’t have extra money to donate or a lot of time.
But he still wants to worship, so he regularly attends Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in German Village.

“Zion does a wonderful job of making you feel welcome and part of the church community without pressuring you to become a member,” said Busarow, 23, of Bexley.

Busarow isn’t the only one there to worship but not to join. Pastors say it’s a sign of the times: Official church membership is becoming less attractive to churchgoers.

For some, such as Busarow, it’s because they’re in a transitory period. Others don’t want to be bothered to participate more than they’d like. Many just never get around to it.

Clergy members prefer people to become church members who are accountable for contributing their time and money. Churches need predictable income, and that usually comes in the form of annual pledges and weekly donations.

Still, pastors are happy for bodies in the pews and won’t pressure people much.

People tend not to worship in the same congregation as loyally as they did in past generations, said David Roozen of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. The baby-boomer generation balked at joining institutions of any sort, and the tendency has become more pronounced among their children, he said.

Fifty years ago, adults felt a duty to their neighborhood churches.

“Now it’s, ‘I’m going to go if it fits my needs, but this is not necessarily a long-term commitment,’ ” Roozen said.

Nonmembers can participate in almost every aspect of many churches, said the Rev. Paul Ulring, pastor of the nearly 6,000-member Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. At his church, nonmembers can worship, get married, send their children to Sunday school and participate in ministries. Some donate money regularly.

They can’t vote in congregational matters, but a lot of them don’t want to anyway, he said.

“The officialdom of membership is a harder and harder thing to sell,” he said. “It’s hard to convince a younger generation that it has any value.”

At St. Brigid of Kildare Cath-olic Church in Dublin, a lot of nonmembers end up joining when they want to marry or have a baby baptized, said Monsignor Joseph Hendricks, the pastor.

Generally, in the Catholic Church, a person must belong to a parish to receive the sacraments of baptism and marriage, said Deacon Tom Berg Jr., vice chancellor of the Columbus Diocese. Catholics who are not members of a parish can receive those sacraments with the permission of the parish priest.

St. Brigid allows funerals for nonmembers, Hendricks said. He estimates that about 200 people worship regularly without joining. The church is home to 3,100 families.

“For those who don’t get around to it, you certainly don’t deny them,” he said. “You try and work with them.”

At Busarow’s church, the church directory includes a listing of “Friends of Zion.” The list is at about 50.

The Rev. Larry Kudart encourages nonmembers to join Zion, but he doesn’t push.

“I don’t press them too hard. I say, ‘We love you whether you join or not.’ ”

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

Faith-based charities, which provide an enormous array of private social services to the nation’s sick, elderly and poor, are facing unprecedented cutbacks from one of their biggest funders: the government.
The nation’s economic woes have led local and state government agencies across the country to reduce contracts and grants or delay payments to the groups, which have been forced to eliminate programs, lay off staff or try to borrow money in a tight lending market. In the Washington region, where the Maryland, Virginia and District budgets are being developed, faith-based charities from Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington to the Salvation Army’s National Capital Area Command are freezing job vacancies, postponing initiatives and rallying their religious congregations to dig deeper into their pockets.

Government leaders are also urging the organizations to increase their fundraising, but political leaders and the groups say that the economy is causing deep cuts in private giving. Ken Kozloff, chief executive of the Jewish Social Service Agency, with offices in Montgomery and Fairfax counties, has seen its private donations fall almost 10 percent, but its client roster has grown 35 percent. It gets half of its revenue from federal, state and local governments.

Without government funding, “where are the resources going to come from?” asked Kozloff. “How do we serve people? How do we keep people’s lives whole?”

Faith groups elsewhere in the country are feeling the strain. California is soon expected to make its payments to faith groups, and other organizations, as IOUs instead of cash. In Illinois, a local Lutheran social services agency is owed $4 million. A Lutheran social services agency in Minnesota closed four residential facilities for troubled adolescents after the state slashed its funding. And in Newark, New Jersey cut a $1 million contract to the local Catholic Charities, which provided job training and other assistance to 400 mentally ill welfare recipients, forcing it to shut down the program and lay off about a dozen people.

“It’s only going to continue to get worse,” warned Larry Snyder, chief executive of Catholic Charities USA, one of the country’s largest nonprofit organizations, which gets about 65 percent of its revenue from government contracts. “Our folks out in the field are feeling a little overwhelmed because they can’t see the end, and all they see are more and more people coming and fewer resources coming their way. And yet we don’t have the luxury to say, ‘You know what? We’re going to close our doors for a while.’ ”

Faith-based charities’ services run the gamut of social programs: They own hospitals and nursing homes, run substance-abuse and foster-care programs, operate homeless shelters and mental health clinics, build affordable housing and distribute food to the needy.

Researchers say it is impossible to calculate what percentage of total social service assistance comes from faith-based organizations, although they agree it is large. One San Jose State University study estimates the value of the social services provided by faith-based charities and other religious organizations across the country at $50 billion a year.

In the Washington area, at least one-third of faith-based charities and congregations get government money, according to a survey by Scott W. Allard, a professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Allard said that estimate is probably low because it misses many smaller congregations and social service organizations that also receive contracts.

But across the country, caring for the poor is growing more and more difficult, faith organization leaders said. The passage of the economic stimulus package is expected to do little to reverse the trend. In Virginia, for example, even with the funds expected from the stimulus package, the budget shortfall is anticipated to be at least $2.7 billion, with cuts for faith-based services all but certain.

In a survey of 50 Catholic Charities affiliates nationwide, about half have experienced cutbacks or unpaid state contracts. The problem appears slightly better locally, but not by much, because state and local governments are finalizing budgets. A survey by the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations found that at least one-third of its members experienced a reduction in state funding or anticipate a reduction.

Not long ago, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) met with local nonprofit social service agencies, including a number of faith-based organizations, to warn them to expect significant cuts. “Government’s ability and the ability of nonprofits [to respond] becomes more challenging when there is a greater need,” Leggett said. “And that’s the real irony of what we face.”

In normal times, nonprofits can tap into bank credit lines to cover lags in payment. But faced with swelling late payments, many organizations have hit their maximum or struggling banks have cut their lines of credit.

Independent Sector, a coalition of charitable groups that represents nonprofits, estimates that at least $15 billion — 18 percent of all government funding to nonprofit human service providers — is delayed or will be delayed if the problem is not addressed.

Nonprofits unsuccessfully lobbied for a $15 billion bridge loan package for human services nonprofits, administered by the federal government, to be included in the fiscal stimulus package.

The charities say the cutbacks will only boomerang on the states. When California slashed more than $300,000 from a contract with Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, it had to cut 70 slots from a program that kept poor elderly people out of nursing homes by providing them with services in their homes.

“Unless their families had some alternative,” said Chief Executive Paul Castro, “they undoubtedly ended up in a nursing home,” potentially costing California taxpayers even more money.

Source: Washington Post

As part of its celebration of Black History Month, the U.S. Census Bureau has released a data profile of Black America. The profile is part of the Bureau’s “Facts for Features” series.
The facts released by the Census Bureau show there are currently an estimated 40.7 million Blacks in America and that number is expected to rise to 65.7 million by 2050.

There are 18 states with populations of at least 1 million African Americans.

New York has the largest number of Blacks with 3.5 million. However, the state with the highest percentage of Blacks is Mississippi where Blacks constitute 38 percent of the population.

Meanwhile, 82 percent of Blacks 25 years old or older have a high school diploma and 19 percent have college degrees. The annual median income for Black households stands at $33,916. But the percentage of African Americans living in poverty stands at 24.5 percent.

Finally, there are 8.5 million Black family households in America and 45 percent of those households are headed by married couples. And 18 percent of all Blacks are 18 years old or younger.

Source: Taylor Media

Some people still believe in corporal punishement at home. However we have passed laws to end that in public education or have we?

Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. 2 Investigator Dave Savini continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment.
Treveon Martin, 10, is afraid of a teacher at his school.

“I’ve seen him hit five of them in the classroom,” Martin said.

Martin says he and others have been hit, grabbed and even struck with a belt.

“He’s threatened almost all the kids in his classroom,” Martin said.

He says it happened at Robert Emmet Academy in November but a Chicago Public School investigator didn’t talk to him until last week – 70 days after the case was reported, and not until after we started asking questions.

“He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk,” Martin said.

An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases – 568 of them – Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth.

“I’m thinking that I don’t really feel safe,” Martin said.

The 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student’s neck.

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

“If someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It’s very, very simple,” Duncan said.

Before heading to Washington, he vowed to take action.

“Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student – they’re going to be gone,” Duncan said.

But that’s not what happened under Duncan’s watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote “battered students for several years” was simply given a “warning” by the Board of Education.

And another student was given “100 licks with a belt.” The abuse was substantiated, but the records show the teacher was not terminated.

Alderman Pat O’Connor is on the City Council Education Committee. He wants all these cases re-examined including the way Treveon Martin’s was handled.

“I’ll tell you what it is – it’s deplorable,” O’Connor said. “I really believe that the Board has dropped the ball in this instance.”

He says this information was never brought to the committee’s attention until now.

“You rely on them to follow the law, and clearly here, it doesn’t appear that they have,” O’Connor said.

There is a state law that bans corporal punishment. But as our 2 Investigators first exposed in September – students are being hit by coaches too. Paddles were confiscated, and CBS 2 exposed gym security tape at Simeon Career Academy showing a coach paddling volleyball players reportedly for missing serves.

Martin says the teacher injured him after he got into a scuffle with a classmate over an eraser.

“My back really hurted, and then at the end of the day, I had to go the hospital,” Martin said.

His mother, Courtney Smith, says he was taken by ambulance and treated for a contusion on his back. It is children around his age who appear to be most at risk. The 2 Investigators found the students with the most complaints are in kindergarten through 8th grade.

“He doesn’t have very much faith in anyone at his school,” Smith said.

“He hurt my feelings,” Martin said.

So why did it take over two months to look into Martin’s case? School officials say it’s because they have many cases to investigate. But just a few hours ago, an investigator determined the allegations against the teacher were unfounded. We are also told only two students were interviewed.

Incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman is troubled by all these cases, including the case of Treveon Martin and promises to further review them, and that includes the process by which they are examined and investigated.

Alderman O’Connor is drafting a resolution and will bring our findings to the attention of the entire City Council this week.

Source: CBS2Chicago

According to the Reports U.S. Rep. Artur Davis on Friday will declare his intention to seek the governorship of Alabama, sources close to the congressman confirm.
The much-anticipated announcement marks the most serious bid ever launched by a black candidate to win the top office in a state that still observes Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis’ birthdays but that also gave rise to the civil rights movement that ended Jim Crow.

Sources close to the campaign said Davis, 41, will announce his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for governor at a midday event Friday in Birmingham, which he represents in Congress, followed by a late-afternoon event in his native Montgomery. He’ll kick off his campaign outside the state’s Archives, within sight of the first White House of the Confederacy and the Alabama Capitol, where that Confederacy was born 148 years ago Wednesday.

Davis is the first Democrat to formally announce his candidacy for governor. Ron Sparks, Alabama’s commissioner of agriculture and industry, has said he is considering a run for governor in 2010. Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, a former governor and son of a former governor, has said he also is considering the race.

Among what is expected to be a crowded Republican slate of candidates to succeed Gov. Bob Riley, only Tim James of Greenville, son of former Gov. Fob James, has formally announced he is running.

But it has been a Davis run that has generated the most interest, especially in the wake of the country’s electing Barack Obama its first black president. He’ll be the second black person to run for governor — following Wayne Sowell’s bid a decade ago — but the first to be considered a serious contender.

The question now: Is Alabama ready to elect its first black governor?

Davis’ answer has been yes. Others are not so sure, although Obama’s win is causing some longtime pols to rethink their assumptions.

“I and a lot of other people felt Obama could not win the presidency when he began, but he did. Now, I’ve come to believe that almost anything is possible politically, including Davis winning the governor’s office,” said Paul Hubbert, vice chairman of the state’s Democratic Party and leader of the 100,000-member-plus Alabama Education Association, whose financial support and endorsement have long been critical for Democratic candidates.

Joe Turnham, chairman of the state’s Democratic Party, said he’s convinced Davis can win the nomination and a general election.

“Artur is an immensely talented and bright person who has a number of gifts,” Turnham said. “That said, he will have a lot of work to do, a lot of money to raise, and he has to introduce himself to a lot of people who don’t live in his congressional district and he will have to battle some talented Democrats to win the nomination.”

Rising star

Turnham said Davis is taking a risk in leaving Congress, where he is a rising star. His friendship with Obama — a Harvard Law School classmate who invited Davis to his White House Super Bowl party today — is likely to boost his reputation in Washington.

“Artur is taking a chance, but you can’t redefine history if you don’t try and that’s what he’s trying to do,” Turnham said.

GOP state chair Mike Hubbard calls Davis a “smart, articulate and likable guy” but a flawed candidate in a state like Alabama.

“I don’t think Artur Davis is electable in Alabama and it’s not because he’s black,” Hubbard said. “It’s because of his voting record — his liberal leanings and policies, his support for Barack Obama.”

William H. Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, said recent polls show a majority of Alabamians say they’re ready to vote for a black for governor. But Stewart points out that five of the last six races for governor were won by Republicans.

“Alabama is a conservative state, and the Republican Party is the conservative party, so any Democrat will have an uphill battle. But if that Democrat is black in a state with our racial history, well, you have to believe that battle is a little harder,” said Stewart.

Sources close to Davis said he well knows the state’s history, but he also knows that most of the recent gubernatorial races won by Republicans have been relatively close, and the dominant issue in the campaign will not be race, but the worsening condition of the state’s economy, the growing anxiety of voters and which candidate can best address those concerns.

Source: Alabama.com