Good morning! It’s Thursday, May 24, Here’s your Daily News.

1. Out of reach? Ivey leads big in new poll.

Ask and you shall receive.
A brand new poll shows Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey with a big lead over her primary opponents and well positioned to win without a runoff in the June 5 GOP Primary Election.
In an internal survey conducted for the Ivey campaign and obtained exclusively by Alabama Daily News, 58 percent of likely Republican voters would choose the sitting governor if the election was held today.
That would put Ivey comfortably above the 50 percent-plus-one threshold needed to avoid a runoff.
How close are the other candidates? You gotta click to the story to find out!
Seriously, read the full story and see the polling memo for yourself HERE.

Notes

Ivey has 75 percent favorability amongst the GOP electorate, so last week’s shenanigans don’t seem to have had a negative effect.
This is an internal poll. That means they paid for it, and some will question its legitimacy because of it.
I’ll say this: serious campaigns don’t do surveys just for messaging purposes. You want the most accurate numbers possible so you can make the right decisions. If the results are in your favor, as is the case here, maybe make them public. But, it would be a huge waste of money to conduct a survey for the sole purpose of putting them in a press release.
I say all that to say this: I think these numbers are pretty spot on.

2. Have you heard about this guy?

So, Jim Bonner is running for the Public Service Commission.
That sounds a lot like Jo Bonner, a popular former congressman from Mobile.
According to Brent Buchanan, Jim Bonner is polling pretty well and has a chance to knock off incumbent commissioner Jeremy Oden.
(In case you’re reading, Fob Riley and Darnold Trump, now is your shot! Sorry, Rupert Bentley, you might want to sit the next few plays out.)
It’s not just the mistaken identity that makes this story interesting, though. Bonner apparently has some serious baggage that would doom most any other candidate.
The flayed man has no secrets, so Josh Moon and Bill Britt have seen to that.
But it’s radio that really brings the personality out in people. So if you really want to hear something special, listen to Jim Bonner’s interview with Scott Beason HERE.
“If you put all the Bonners in a sack and shake ’em up, you get pretty much get the same thing.”
[Cut to Jo Bonner rolling his eyes]

3. Quick campaign update.

Brian Lyman of The Montgomery Advertiser continues his excellent profile work with a piece on Alice Martin, who is running for Attorney General. It’s thorough, well done, and worth your time this morning.
In yesterday’s digest, I failed to mention State Senator Bill Hightower’s new ad in the governor’s race. It’s now uploaded on the rundown, which you can watch HERE.
Stay tuned for some fun updates on the campaign ad front in the coming days…

4. How about we keep an eye on this storm.

There’s a storm brewing in the Gulf, and it could get serious in time for Memorial Day.

From AP’s Jay Reeves:

The National Hurricane Center said a disturbance still over water in the western Caribbean had a 70 percent chance of becoming a subtropical or tropical system by Memorial Day, and rain is forecast to continue even if it doesn’t.

The system will be named “Alberto” if it strengthens into the first tropical storm of the 2018 hurricane season, which doesn’t begin until June 1. Forecasters said rain would become more widespread and heavier as the area moves northward toward land.

5. Alabama Writers Hall of Fame induction.

Eight distinguished authors will be inducted into the 2018 Alabama Writers Hall of Fame at The University of Alabama’s Bryant Conference Center TONIGHT.
Check out the list of this year’s inductees: Winston Groom, Gay Talese, Charles Gaines, Shirley Ann Grau, William Bradford Huie, Wayne Greenhaw, James Haskins and Joseph Glover Baldwin.
A reception will be held in their honor at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m. The induction ceremony will immediately follow dinner.
There might still be tickets available, so if you’re interested, visit the Alabama Writers’ Forum website HERE.

Headlines.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Exclusive: Poll shows Ivey leading by 40 leads .

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Jim, not Jo Bonner running for Public Service Commission.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Updated: Candidates air TV ads.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Rain from Gulf floods Southeast; tropical storm possible.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump explores tariffs on autos, auto parts.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alabama teacher charged with having sex with student.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Pompeo: Fate of U.S. – North Korea talks rests with Kim Jong Un.

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Alice Martin stresses experience in campaign for attorney general.

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Since 2016, Montgomery has paid over $250K to cops accused of crimes.

DOTHAN EAGLE – Geneva superintendent working to secure armed guards for schools.

DOTHAN EAGLE – Make your vote a priority.

YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Mike Rogers sees no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, calls it a distraction.

YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – It’s your fault! Times-Daily, Decatur Daily blame Alabama, not illegal immigration, for possible loss of U.S. House seat.

ALABAMA POLITICAL REPORTER – A wild sheriff’s race in Etowah County.

FLORENCE TIMES DAILY – Passage of bill a triumph for family.

ANNISTON STAR – Calhoun County cities, towns, struggle with population decline in 2017.

ANNISTON STAR – Paying for the inaction of the past in Alabama.

AL.COM – Huntsville student hospitalized for cracked skull after being ‘body slammed’ by security guard.

AL.COM – Roy Moore to announce filing new lawsuit in Gadsden.

AL.COM – Trump’s help requested to move along sale of Bellefonte.

AL.COM – Former school resource officer indicted on more charges of rape, incest, sodomy.

AL.COM – Sylacauga pastor apologizes for comments seen to mock #MeToo movement.

AL.COM – Allegiant Air picks up its first Alabama-built Airbus jet.

AL.COM – Competition sparse in many Alabama legislative districts.

AL.COM – Columnist Kyle Whitmire: Trump’s lawyer Cohen opens doors for Alabama nuclear developer Haney.

AL.COM – Columnist John Archibald: Alabama ethics: The joke’s on us in the Briber Belt.

AL.COM – Parole denied for Judith Ann Neelley in teen’s 1982 murder.

AL.COM – Google Fiber starts signing up businesses in Huntsville.

AL.COM – Corvex, Icahn mulling Energen takeover bid.

WASHINGTON POST – House GOP holds last-ditch immigration talks as showdown looms.

WASHINGTON POST – Trump officials weigh 25 percent tax on imported cars to force concessions in NAFTA talks.

WASHINGTON POST – If Republicans want to uncover FBI misconduct, they sure aren’t acting like it.

WASHINGTON POST – Stacey Abrams, Democrats’ newest Southern hope, looks to Virginia, Alabama for path to victory in Georgia.

WASHINGTON POST – Congress sends massive veterans bill to Trump, opening door to more private health care

Front pages (Images link to newspaper websites, which you should visit and patronize)

Daily News Digest – May 24, 2018