Thursday, October 26, 2006

Alabama's Supreme Court chief justice race is boiling, with incumbent
Drayton Nabers Jr. accusing challenger Sue Bell Cobb of taking gambling
money, and Cobb claiming Nabers was forced to pull a false ad. The nation's
most expensive state Supreme Court race is getting more expensive. Both
sides in the tight race plan more TV ads for the final two weeks before the
Nov. 7 election. So far, Cobb and Nabers have spent almost $2 million on TV
ads, according to the Brennan Center in New York, which tracks ad spending
in court races nationwide. The candidates promise clean campaigns but accuse
each other of violating the pledges. "The negative ads are going to
continue," said Larry Powell, professor of communications at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham and a former political consultant. "The only
question is: Are they going to continue right up to Election Day?" Tuesday,
Cobb renewed her call for Nabers to sign a State Bar of Alabama committee
agreement on ethical campaigning. She also said she was disgusted by Nabers'
television ads. "The people of Alabama are sick of this and we are, too,"
said her campaign manager, Sabrina Lofton. "We will continue our message of
qualifications and experience, because that's what this race should be all
about."

Nabers' campaign responded by accusing Cobb of violating judicial ethics in
her own TV ads by lying about her opponent. Nabers issued his own pledge to
run an ethical campaign but reserved the right to respond to attacks.

"It is the height of hypocrisy to talk about campaign pledges when they are
knowingly running ads that are untruthful," said Nabers' campaign manager,
Clay Ryan. "We consistently offer hard evidence in our campaign ads. I have
yet to see that from Judge Cobb's campaign."