Author: Rob Holbert

It had to happen. There was only one way to stop it, and I didn’t want to go that route. I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. I know, it’s hard to believe. If I still had my column picture from 15 years ago plastered next to this article you’d be amazed as well. “Gosh, he doesn’t look a day over 35,” is what you’d probably think. Or “Who’s this guy trying to fool?” It’s hard to know what to make of being 50 these days. When I was growing up, 50 was old. Everyone smoked and their...

The once-towering figure seemed diminished a bit as he shuffled through the front door of the Luv Guv’s new bachelor pad. In a post-election stupor he’d wandered the streets, kicking rocks and bottles while searching for answers to how he’d managed to lose the very seat he coveted more than anything. Almost subconsciously, he found himself at Robert Bentley’s door, knocking and then being invited inside, driven by a strange hope the ex-governor might somehow be able to help him. It felt oh so familiar. “Well, Big Luther! What brings you to my humble abode?” Bentley said, grinning. “I...

As I’ve spent the vast majority of my life living in places where the residents always felt locked outside the circle of power in their respective state capitols, the concept of projecting authority at the state level is of particular interest. Maybe that’s too many words. More simply put, the people where I’ve lived are always wondering why they get screwed over in the statehouse. Growing up in coastal Mississippi, we were labeled “Coast Trash” by the rest of the state and really, until the casino boom started in the ‘90s, the needs of mighty Jackson and parts north...

With the Republican runoff for the United States Senate less than a week away, it is evident Luther Strange is becoming exponentially more desperate each day. The current placeholder for Jeff Sessions’ old seat is running behind former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore in all the polls, so the Republican Senate Leadership Fund is trucking money down to poor ol’ Bama so Big Luther can further flood the airwaves before the polls open Sept. 26. Suddenly Luther is fighting for term limits and crowing about how he drained the Montgomery swamp, and making sweet political love to...