Alabama Senate: Republican Sen. Richard Shelby hasn’t gotten less than 60 percent of the vote since 1992 when he was running for a second term. He won his first Senate race in 1986 with 50 percent. The incumbent’s bid for a sixth term won’t be any different, especially in a presidential election year in deeply red Alabama. Shelby does have to contend with four primary opponents running to his right, despite a lack of evidence that voters are unhappy with the incumbent. One candidate, small businessman and Iraq War veteran Jonathan McConnell, has raised enough money for a $290,000 advertising buy that runs through primary day. That number is dwarfed by the dollars behind Shelby’s own television advertising, which is funded by a campaign war chest that stood at nearly $19.4 million on September 30 of last year. McConnell does not appear to pose an imminent threat to Shelby in advance of the March 1 primary. It does not help his cause that there are three other candidates in the race dividing up whatever anti-Shelby sentiment may exist. There are
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