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Alabama

Senate

Incumbent: Jeff Sessions (R)
2nd term (59 percent)
Outlook: Safe Republican

Though some Alabama Democrats were hoping state Agriculture & Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks (D) would take on Sessions this cycle, Sparks passed on the race and state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures has taken up the party mantle. And to say that Figures’ grass-roots campaign hasn’t really caught fire is an understatement.

As of the end of June, Figures had raised nearly $250,000 for the cycle but had just $22,000 in cash on hand compared with $4.3 million for Sessions. And while national Democrats are excited about several Senate races around the country this cycle, Alabama just isn’t one of them.

Sessions is expected to cruise to victory in November.

House

2nd district
Open seat: Terry Everett (R) is retiring
Outlook: Tossup

After being courted by both sides to enter the 2nd district race last year, Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright is running as a conservative Democrat and has found a home in the Blue Dog wing of the party.

Democrats believe the popular mayor now gives the party a good chance of flipping a seat deep in the heart of Dixie into their column. But Bright has to pull off a delicate balancing act in 2nd district.

No matter how much he plays up his conservative credentials and tries to divorce himself from the more liberal leaders of his party, Bright will still have a “D” next to his name on the ballot this fall. And in a district that President Bush won by 34 points in 2004, that will be a problem.

Republicans are working hard to convince voters that state Rep. Jay Love will be a better representative of the district’s conservative interests in Washington, D.C.

Although Everett stayed on the sidelines in the contentious GOP primary earlier this year, he’s been a vocal supporter of Love now that the general election is under way.

Everett cut an ad for Love in September in which he said that “in Washington ... the teams we choose matter most.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “and the liberals are financing Bobby Bright’s campaign and they expect something in return. ... Join me in supporting Jay Love — a real conservative.”

Republicans are also attacking Bright’s record as mayor, hitting him for raising taxes and overseeing a spike in homicide rates in Montgomery. Freedom’s Watch, the conservative 501(c)(4) that is seeking to boost Republican candidates, has also gotten into the mix in the 2nd district, financing ads attacking Bright beginning in late September.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also committing serious cash to this contest. The committee has reserved more than three-quarters of a million dollars in TV time leading up to Election Day.

Another factor that could give Bright a major boost in November is the fact that the Montgomery-based 2nd district is nearly 30 percent black. And with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on the ballot, Bright could be helped by a surge in black voter turnout.

5th district
Open seat: Bud Cramer (D) is retiring
Outlook: Tossup

In a cycle in which Republicans have been hit hard by retirements, Cramer’s decision in March not to seek another term gave the GOP a juicy target in a very conservative Southern district.

Republicans have turned to commercial insurance broker Wayne Parker as their candidate to try to flip the district. Parker was the GOP nominee against Cramer twice in the mid-1990s. Democrats have tapped state Sen. Parker Griffith, who began his career as a doctor, to try to keep the seat out of Republican hands.

The campaign turned heated in late September when Parker and the National Republican Congressional Committee began releasing documents that called into question Griffith’s medical credentials.