Alabama Governor Kay Ivey wouldn’t speak to me for the AL.com profile (we profiled all 2018 gubernatorial candidates), so I took a page from Gay Talese and gave it a bit of the “Frank Sinatra has a cold” treatment:
In the fall of 1982, 37-year-old Kay Ivey stood on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol building to talk about why she deserved to be elected state auditor. Beside her she placed an empty chair bearing the name of her runoff opponent, Jan Cook, who was nowhere in sight.
Ivey came out swinging, calling Cook “probably the most unqualified candidate to seek the office of state auditor in memory” and slamming Cook for supposed ties to special interest groups.
It was a stunt that prompted the 26-year-old Cook to later call her own press conference and challenge Ivey to “behave in a Christian, lady-like manner.”