WASHINGTON – One of the direct links this city has with Mobile is a statue of Admiral David G. Farragut tucked in way in Washington’s second ward. If you’ve ever taken the mass transit here, you may have noticed the two Metro stops named for the city square named in his honor.
Farragut served the Union during the Civil War and was famous for his legendary command at the Battle of Mobile Bay, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” The Battle of Mobile Bay was a crucial for the Union because Mobile Bay was one of the last remaining operable ports for the Confederacy. Farragut successfully shut down the port with a naval victory and the rest is history.
Immigration legislation dead (for now)
Mobile’s very own Sen. Jeff Sessions has become the hero of the national conservative base, having been an outspoken opponent of some highly controversial proposed immigration legislation. In the last few weeks, Sessions has appeared on all three nightly network news shows, all the cable shows and has made the rounds on the talk radio circuit.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) pulled the bill after failing to get the senate to vote for a procedural effort that would have brought the bill to the floor.
“It’s not President Bush, it’s not Harry Reid, it’s not [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell (R. – Ky.), it’s not Sen. [Edward] Kennedy (D.-Mass.),” said Sessions last week. “It’s really the bill couldn’t carry its own weight. It just didn’t do what it was needed to do because it was crafted as a compromise after compromise after compromise based on political considerations rather than being a principled, bright line bill that could be enforced easily.”
Though the bill could be reincarnated this session, the senator does not think that will happen. He told Lagniappe he thought it was conceivable something even worse could be crafted in a future Congress with potentially a Democrat in the Oval Office, but he didn’t think that was likely either.
Sen. Richard Shelby was also speaking out against the bill. However, Alabama’s senior senator was a lot more critical of Bush’s support of the bill.
“We’re not protecting our border,” said Shelby. “We don’t know who’s here, how they got here and who’s coming in the future. I think this is a contradiction in the president’s plan and I think that’s why he’s having trouble right now with a lot of his Republican base, including me.”
Sparks out
Ron Sparks, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, has decided not to seek the Democratic nomination to run against Sen. Jeff Sessions for his senatorial seat in November 2008. This decision has upset what little grassroots support that exists for the Democratic Party in Alabama.
Sparks has publicly said he wouldn’t run if he has to face a challenger in a primary that could be expensive. However, Mobile’s own Vivian Figures confirmed she is going to seek the nomination and Sparks then said he isn’t going to run based on her decision.
Republican insiders have suggested Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) would target this race and the Democratic Senatorial Committee, the architects of last fall’s Democratic takeover of Congress, would invest heavily into Sessions’ opponent’s campaign – believing his seat vulnerable.
Bush in town for fundraiser
This week, President Bush and his wife are making an appearance in Mobile for a fundraiser for Jeff Sessions’ senatorial campaign. Tickets are only $1,000, but sources within the campaign say if you make a donation to the campaign between $17,000 and $25,000, you can get your photo made with the president. A $2,000 donation might get you past the Secret Service for a quick photo with the president in the background.
This is the first time the president and the first lady have done an event like this together since 2003. The event is being held in conjunction with the Sessions campaign and the Republican Senatorial Committee. They’re expecting 700 people and hoping to raise $750,000.
There was some question if there might be some bad blood between Sessions and Bush over the senator’s opposition to the immigration legislation the President was pushing. Sessions said in his teleconference last week the president made a light-hearted remark about the appearance when Bush made a trip to Capitol Hill as a last ditch effort to revive the immigration legislation.
“He made comment, because I was sitting writing in front of him, that he was coming to Mobile to campaign for me next week and even though he and I disagreed on this bill, he was going to continue to do that and so it was kind of funny the way he did that,” quipped Sessions.
Contact Jeff Poor at jeffreypoor@yahoo.com.
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