ALABAMA
      Nov. 2, 2010 Governor

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+Robert Bentley (R)
860,472
 		57.58%
Ron Sparks (D)
 		625,710
 		41.87%
write-ins
 8,091
 		0.54%

1,494,273
Registered voters (active): 2,443,557.
Plurality: 234,762 votes (15.71 percentage points)
 AL Secretary of State



Notes: In the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Bob Riley (R), state Rep. Robert Bentley (R) defeated Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks (D) to keep the seat in Republican hands. 

Seven candidates vied for the Republican nomination and the race went to a run-off.  Dr. Bentley, a retired dermatologist, had represented Tuscaloosa in the Alabama House since 2002.  In the June 1 primary, former chancellor of the two-year college system Bradley Byrne finished first with 137,451 votes (27.89%), followed by Bentley at 123,958 votes (25.15%), businessman Tim James at 123,792 votes (25.12%), and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore at 95,163 votes (19.31%) of 492,897 total votes tallied.  In the July 13 run-off, Bentley, running as an outsider, defeated Byrne, who was backed by much of the GOP establishment, by 261,233 votes (56.09%) to 204,503 votes (43.91%) (>). 

In the campaign for the Democratic nomination, U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, seeking to become Alabama's first black governor, announced on Feb. 6, 2009.  Sparks announced on Apr. 3.  Sparks attracted considerable support among black voters and won June 1 primary by a surprisingly wide margin of 198,358 votes (62.31%) to 119,972 (37.69%) of 318,330 votes tallied.
 
Bentley and Sparks debated at Moody Music Building at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 16 (>) and in the Sandridge Student Center at Athens State University in north Alabama on Oct. 26.

Bentley's win was part of an historic year for Alabama Republicans.  Alabama Political Reporter noted that Republicans won "supermajorities in both Houses of the State Legislature for the first time in 135 years, every statewide elected office on the ballot that year, six of the seven congressional seats, and every statewide appellate court seat on the ballot." 



Campaign Managers:
Robert Bentley:  Bryan Sanders
(from June 2010 after the primary, succeeding David Ferguson)  Worked for The Wickers Group.  Volunteered on Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign in 2007-08.  Staffer to U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback.  Undergraduate degree from Colby College, 2006.  Kansas native.
former David Ferguson replaced after the primary

Ron Sparks:  Rick Dent
(from Apr. 2010, succeeding Sharon Wheeler)  Started on the campaign as a consultant in Jan. 2010.  Extensive experience in the Southeast including leading Don Siegelman's successful 1998 campaign for governor of Alabama; communications director for Gov. Zell Miller (GA), Sept. 1993-Apr. 1998; and spokesman on Gov. Ray Mabus' (MS) unsucessful 1991 re-election campaign.
former Sharon Wheeler resigned


See also:
Charles J. Dean.  "Robert Bentley easily defeats Ron Sparks to be governor of Alabama (with video)." AL.com, Nov. 3, 2010.

Phillip Rawls.  "Outsider Bentley wins GOP runoff over Byrne."  The Associated Press, July 14, 2010.

Josh Kraushaar.  "Sparks trounces Davis with black voters."  Politico, June 2, 2010.

Phillip Rawls.  "Black Alabama groups endorse white candidate Ron Sparks."  The Associated Press, May 15, 2010.



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