IN PROGRESS DO NOT PUBLISH. KMR.

It wasn’t but a few moments after two of Alabama’s newest congressmen voted in January to retain Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House that the Dixie state’s Republican Party began its assault on the duo of Democrats who caught national attention with their 2008 congressional victories.

“Griffith and Bright have now acknowledged that they support Pelosi, and by way of their ‘yes’ vote, have officially revealed that their true allegiance is to the ultra-liberal wing of the Democrat Party,” the same-day mass e-mail read, referencing Reps. Parker Griffith and Bobby Bright, who represent the state’s 5th and 2nd districts respectively.
Nearly five months after that first e-mail blast, the political tone is finally taking shape as scores of Republicans are revving up for a series of takeover bids.

The latest: Montgomery City councilwoman Martha Roby said she intends to run against Bright in the 2nd district.
Roby said she has filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. She described herself as conservative and said she wants to represent the “hardworking people” of Alabama.
Roby, who is just 32-years-old, is a graduate of Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and the only female on Montgomery’s city council.
Elsewhere in the state, Les Phillip has announced he will take on Griffith in 2010. Phillip, an African-American, is a businessman and the minority outreach director for the Alabama Republican Party. He attended the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland before moving to Alabama.
On the Democratic side, attorney Josh Segall ended lingering speculation about whether he would run in a re-match against Republican incumbent Mike Rogers. Segall narrowly lost to Rogers in 2008 and announced his 2010 candidacy in early April.