Steve Flowers
Columnist
Steve is a writer for The Observer
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OPINION — There were very few surprises in our March 5 primary results. Since we are essentially a one-party Republican state when it comes to presidential, national and statewide politics, most of the action was in the GOP Primary.The big winners...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION — I hope you all voted in the March 5 primaries. You have an advantage on me in that I must go to press with my column before Wednesday, my publication date. Therefore, you know the results. However, I doubt there are any...
OPINION — This coming Tuesday, March 5, is Primary Election Day in Alabama. Your vote next week is probably as important this Tuesday as it will be in the November general election because winning the Republican nomination for a statewide position...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— “Friends and Neighbors” politics and “all politics is local” has gone by the wayside. Instead, we are a state and nation divided along partisan and racial lines. In Alabama, almost all white voters are Republican and...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION Last week we discussed the Alabama House of Representatives and highlighted the leaders in the House.This week we will talk about the prominent members of the very powerful Alabama State Senate.To begin with, the state...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— The 2024 Legislative Session began this week. It can last three and a half months from Feb. 6 to May 20.The Alabama Legislature is a very conservative body. It has super Republican majorities in both the Senate and the...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— The 2024 Legislative Session begins next week. It will be difficult to replicate the success of last year’s regular session. The 2023 year was a premier year for any first year of a quadrennium. Indeed, it may be one of...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— The most interesting race to watch this year in Alabama will be for the newly drawn second con-gressional district.The new seat was drawn by the federal courts to create a second majority minority district in Ala-bama....
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— This is a presidential election year. Our GOP Presidential Primary is our election in the Heart of Dixie. We are a one party state, especially in presidential races. Alabama is one of a group of states that will hold its...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION — My notebook of observations from 2023 was so full that I will continue this week.Our new United States Senator, Katie Boyd Britt, has proven to all of us that she is indeed the superstar we predicted she would be. She is...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION — As is my custom, my year-end column is devoted to acknowledging meaningful Alabama political leaders who passed away during the year. This year I will highlight only one. Roger Bedford passed away in October at 67. He was...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION — As Christmas approaches, Alabama’s Sen. Katie Britt prepares to mark one year in office. Those of us who have known her since before she was elected to the Senate knew she would be successful, but we could not have...
OPINION — In my 2015 book, Of Goats and Governors: Six Decades of Colorful Alabama Political Stories, I have a chapter entitled “Alabama’s Three Greatest Senators.” I chronicle the lives and accomplishments of Richard Shelby, Lister Hill and John...
Lister Hill, a great Alabama senator OPINION— We had a very dist-inguished congressional delegation from Alabama during the 30-year span of 1934-1964. The congressmen from the Heart of Dixie appeared to be born to serve in congress. Their pedigrees...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— In recent years, candidates for political office have lambasted, run against and proclaimed that they were not career politicians. Every television ad for someone who has never held office has proudly stated that they are...
60th anniversary of JFK assassination BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— The assassination of President John F. Kennedy happened 60 years ago this week. It occurred to me that a good many of you may be too young to remember that horribly sad day of Nov. 22,...
Negative Ads Work BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION— Over the years, many of you have lamented to me and said, “I am so tired of seeing all negative ads with candidates lambasting each other in political campaigns. Why don’t candidates say what they are...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION—Folks, don’t look now, but our 2024 election year is upon us. Next year is a major year in politics nationwide. Not only does the nation elect a president, most states also elect their governors and legislators for four...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION — In recent years, healthcare has eclipsed agriculture as Dothan’s major industry. Dothan is the medical mecca for the entire Wiregrass, as well as rural northwest Florida and southwest Georgia. It has premier medical...
BY STEVE FLOWERS OPINION — In the past two to three years we have had some very generous benefactors make some very magnanimous contributions to their university alma maters in Alabama.One of those philanthropist is Alabama businessman Jim...