Off The Record: The latest rumors and rumblings in Alabama
Rain check
President Trump has called an audible on Tuscaloosa. After saying Wednesday that he loves Alabama and had to be at the game, he announced Friday on Truth Social that he’ll skip Georgia-Alabama so first responders can focus on Hurricane Isaias and not on him. He’s promising to visit both teams “at a later date” and is headed to a rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Saturday instead. The game is still on for 7:30 p.m. ET, with on-campus tailgating off-limits before noon and “College GameDay” moving indoors. Apparently the one thing the hurricane hasn’t moved is kickoff.
Judge, jury and Legislature
Tommy Tuberville’s lawyers have spent months arguing to judges that fights over candidate eligibility belong to the Alabama Legislature once the votes are counted. That suits Tuberville, who has friends in every row of both chambers. But Section 115 covers the lieutenant governor too, which also sends John Wahl’s Tennessee driver’s license to those 140 jurors. The State Senate voted unanimously this spring to shrink the office he’s seeking, and two dozen lawmakers signed a letter knocking his tax promises during the runoff. A vacancy would cost senators nothing, because the president pro tem already holds the real power. Wahl might start counting friends in Montgomery.
Catch the Roberts, Moore doubleheader
OTR is told that John Roberts wasn’t the only one raising money in Huntsville on Tuesday night. A fundraiser for U.S. Senate nominee Barry Moore was going on right next door to Roberts’ event at The Ledges, and a source tells OTR the crowd was going back and forth between the two. With Congressman Dale Strong, attorney general nominee Katherine Robertson and secretary of state nominee Caroleene Dobson on Roberts’ side of the wall, neither room was short on company. Apparently when half the Republican ticket lands in one corner of Huntsville, the hardest part of fundraising is getting people to stay in one room.
Frenemies in orbit
After years of fighting over Space Command, Huntsville and Colorado Springs are suddenly playing nice. More than 90 Colorado Springs economic development leaders visited the Rocket City this week to talk about opportunities around the $185 billion Golden Dome initiative. Colorado’s lawsuit over the headquarters move is still active, with trial deadlines running through late this year, though the Colorado Springs chamber never signed on to the suit in the first place. Apparently there’s no reason to let a little litigation get between friends and federal contracts.
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