ALABAMA -- Fob James (R) elected in 1979; re-elected in 1994 (50%). Gov. Fob James (R), the darling of social issue conservatives and a former Democratic governor, won a bruising GOP runoff against challenger Winton Blount, a businessman who ran for governor previously. On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman had an easy primary. A veteran statewide officeholder who has also served as secretary of state and Alabama attorney general, Siegelman lost a bid for his party's nomination for governor in 1990. Alabama is now reliably Republican in federal races, the state has two GOP senators, and five of the state's seven congressional districts are represented by Republicans. But James is controversial, and he won the governor's office in 1994 (a great GOP year) by just 10,000 votes.