Election Central

In the middle of the last century, V.O. Key, a great observer of American politics, published his well-known work Southern Politics in State and Nation.

In it, Key examined the inner workings of the dominant political institution in the Deep South, the Democratic Party.

Key, a Texan who went on to teach political science at Harvard, drilled down to examine politics at a hyper-local level in his 1949 book. In his analysis of statewide elections, he noted voting patterns that suggested voters put more emphasis on local candidates, or where a candidate was from, than on the issues or the candidates' platforms. Key dubbed this "the friends-and-neighbors" network.

A local-local approach meant a candidate would count on overwhelming support in his home county and stronger support in adjacent counties than his opponent would get.

During the days of the Solid South, the Democratic primary was the general election, and, on many of the day's big issues, race included, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of difference between the candidates.

So it made sense that being a native son or drawing regional distinctions would be something to drum up over the course of a campaign.

However, the South's current two-party system would seemingly diminish the "friends and neighbors" strategy.

When you have two candidates — one a Republican and the other a Democrat — there's understandably a lot more to the race than a politician's hometown.

In this year's 3rd congressional district race, however, it might be a mistake to count out the friends-and-neighbors system, the where-you-grew-up aspect of it all, says one modern-day observer of the process.

Glen Browder, the former 3rd district congressman, who currently teaches politics at Jacksonville State University and the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, Calif., argues that a friends-and-neighbors system will come into play in this election.

According to Browder, incumbent Mike Rogers, the Republican, will hope for a big turnout in Calhoun and neighboring counties; this will give him the cushion needed to overcome a possible weaker showing in the southern part of the district.

In Montgomery, Russell, Lee and surrounding counties, Rogers' challenger, Josh Segall, will be looking to do the same.

The difference, Browder argues, is that the area around Anniston and Calhoun County is a larger, more cohesive community than any single comparable area in the southern part of the district.

"We are a community within ourselves," said Browder from his office at JSU. "Anniston is a kind of focal point and has been a city that has had impact throughout the region for decades. The situation is much different in the southern part of the district."

Browder rattles off examples:

• Alexander City, is a place very much like our area, but smaller, he says. "It just doesn't have the impact."

• Phenix City is as much oriented toward Columbus, Ga., as it is anywhere in Alabama.

• Montgomery, Segall's hometown, is a city split by two congressional districts, part of it in the 3rd and part of it in the 2nd.

The northern part of the district is also different, Browder asserts, because the media market is much more consolidated. Candidates wanting to run ads in Phenix City, for example, have to buy TV time from Columbus stations. Institutions such as JSU and a huge employer like the Anniston Army Depot tend to bring focus to the people of Calhoun and neighboring counties.

Though the northern counties in the district — Calhoun, Talladega, Cherokee, Cleburne, Randolph and Clay — make up a minority of the population in the district, they have tended, at least in the past, to vote more as a block for the candidate that has the better name recognition in the area. And in recent years that has been candidates from our area — Browder from Calhoun County, then Bob Riley who was from Clay County and now Rogers also from Calhoun.

As Browder puts it, this dynamic is "a problem for anyone who wants to win this race. It is a major consideration, in that you can reach this community more easily than you can reach the southern part of the district."

Both Rogers and Segall play down the regionalism aspect of this race. In fact, Rogers has said repeatedly and publicly that Auburn and Montgomery will be on the priority list for future federal highway money. Segall says there is no more important project in the 3rd congressional district than the Eastern Parkway in Calhoun County.

Rogers was recently spotted shaking hands with potential voters in Coosa County, while Segall opened an office in Anniston last week.

This seems to reinforce the friends-and-neighbors strategy that worked for Browder and others. In his first race especially, he says, he gambled that he could spend less time and resources in Calhoun and adjacent counties while spending more time and money in the southern counties where he knew he was weak.