Alabama Rivals Get Primal in Gubernatorial Runoff

The runoff campaign for the Republican nomination for governor, a contest between the party’s right and moderate wings, got off to a nasty start Wednesday with the candidates calling each other a dancing monkey and a fat monkey.

Gov. Forrest “Fob” James Jr., who is backed by the religious right because of his support for school prayer and the display of the Ten Commandments in a courtroom, fell short of a majority in Tuesday’s primary and was forced into a June 30 runoff with moderate Winton Blount.

Blount, a car dealer and plastics manufacturer, said James has ignored Alabama’s economic woes and is spending too much time fighting losing battles on religion. He said James has embarrassed the state.

Alabama does not need a governor “dancing around a stage like a monkey,” Blount said. During a state school board meeting in 1996, James walked like a monkey to poke fun at how textbook pictures on evolution showed a slump-shouldered ape turning into a human.

James responded to Blount’s monkey comment with a snipe at the challenger’s girth: “If I dance like a monkey, then he must dance like a fat monkey. . . . I’m a monkey that’s in good shape. I’m not a fat monkey.”

The governor added, “I’m also not a monkey whose daddy has put $2.5 million in my campaign either.” Blount’s father is millionaire industrialist Winton M. “Red” Blount, postmaster general during the Nixon administration.

The winner of the runoff will face Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman, who won easily against little-known opponents Tuesday.

Conservative religious leaders around the country support James, who among other things has argued that the Bill of Rights does not apply to the states on matters of speech and religion.

James won 48% of the vote Tuesday and Blount got 41%. Three other candidates split the rest, with former Gov. Guy Hunt in third with 8%.

Democrats can cross over and vote in the runoff between James and Blount, and both men began campaigning for those votes Wednesday. James, who finished 24,000 votes ahead of Blount, said he would not be “saying anything new” in the runoff. He has campaigned largely on his promise of no new taxes and his stand against federal restrictions on religion.