BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - On the campus of Samford University, seven Republican hopefuls took the stage at a candidate forum to explain why voters should send them to the U.S. Congress.
They largely agreed with each other on policy issues. The Affordable Care Act should be repealed. Term limits should be adopted.
But in the crowded field vying to replace retiring Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus in Alabama’s 6th Congressional District, the seven are striving for ways to set themselves apart. Two pointed to their experience in politics, another two their lack of it. One notes his experience at a doctor. Another made a memorable ad using his AR-15 to shoot holes in a copy of the Affordable Care Act.
“The first question everybody is asking is, ’Who gets the two tickets to the runoff?’” said Alabaster state Sen. Cam Ward, who considered running for the seat but didn’t.
The 6th Congressional District, which encompasses most of the majority white areas of the Birmingham-metropolitan area, is considered one of the most strongly Republican in the southeast. Seventy-four percent of voters cast ballots for Mitt Romney in 2012. The territory snakes from Blount County, through Alabama’s wealthiest cities, including Mountain Brook, and into the bedroom communities and rural areas of Shelby and Chilton counties.
But within its crooked borders, lie the diversity, and sometimes divisions, of the modern GOP. The district encompasses the Birmingham heart of the state’s business community, suburbanites, some of the state’s most active tea party groups, Ward said.
“The winner, in my opinion, is the guy that can appeal enough to the tea party but that the business community is comfortable with,” Ward said.
Two veteran Jefferson County legislators with contrasting styles, Rep. Paul DeMarco of Homewood and Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale, are vying for the seat.
DeMarco, a lawyer, is chairman of the influential House Judiciary Committee. He sponsored 2009 legislation that mandated financially troubled Jefferson County hire a professional county manager. He recently fought, and lost a battle to expand the Birmingham water board.
“I’ve got a track record of taking on difficult issues and looking for solutions,” DeMarco, 46, said.
Beason, 44, has been behind many of state’s more polarizing bills including an open carry gun bill and a sweeping Arizona-style immigration bill which was largely gutted by the courts.
“I’ve tried taking the bull by the horns. I’ve led by example. I’ve been bold. I’ve fought those fights that the people of Alabama want us to fight,” Beason said.
Orthopedic surgeon Chad Mathis is competing for the same tea party vote as Beason. Mathis said repealing the Affordable Care Act is the issue of a generation.
“The whole reason I’m running is I because I want to go and stop Obamacare and put in patient-centered reforms and really fight for the small-business owners and the individual liberties that we so deserve,” Mathis said.
Will Brooke, 58, is the executive vice-president and managing partner of Harbert Management Corp. A past chairman of the Business Council of Alabama, he has the deepest ties to the state’s business establishment.
“I am a federalist. I believe in a limited federal government and believe power should be pushed down to the state and local level,” Brooke said.
Brooke grabbed national attention - including a spoof on John Stewart’s “The Daily Show” - for a Web ad where he used his AR-15 and other guns to shoot bullets into the Affordable Care Act before eventually tossing the document in a wood chipper. The ad was meant to be taken tongue in cheek, he said.
Tom Vigneulle, the owner of a mattress manufacturing and retail company, has branded himself as the small business guy in the race.
“The bottom line is regulation and taxation are crushing small business and I know that first-hand,” Vigneulle, 52, said.
Gary Palmer, 59, is the founder of the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative-leaning research group.
“I’ve spent almost a quarter of a century working on solving some of the issues that we will be discussing in Washington,” said Palmer.
Retired lawyer Rob Shattuck, 67, is the self-professed “extreme longshot” in the race.
Shattuck, a Harvard-educated lawyer is running a largely one issue-race. There needs to be massive reforms to curb the influence of big money in politics, or the money monster, as he calls it.
The race is expected to get pricey. DeMarco, Brooke and Mathis have already reported raising over $300,000. Reports due next week are expected to show considerable more financial firepower.
The Republican primary is June 3 and a runoff, if needed, July 15. The winner will face Democrat Avery Vise in the Nov. 4 general election.
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