One of the most humorous and entertaining political orators in Alabama political lore was the late U.S. Senator Howell Heflin. Judge Heflin, as he was affectionately known throughout the state, was a pure political wit. He could spin a story or tell a joke with the aplomb of Jay Leno. His candid off-the-cuff wit has actually been captured in statements he made in the Congressional Record.

Heflin was the son of a Methodist minister, a graduate from Birmingham Southern and the University of Alabama School of Law. He was a U.S. Marine officer during World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. Then, he settled in Tuscumbia and practiced law successfully for 25 years before entering politics as a judge. In 1970, Heflin ran for and was elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He served one six-year term and changed the state’s judicial branch of government by implementing a constitutional amendment that streamlined the state court system.

Heflin was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978. By 1980, he had become our senior U.S. senator. He served in that capacity until he retired in 1996. His greatest accomplishments were centered around his service on the Agricultural and Judiciary committees.

In 1990, Heflin had been in the Senate for 12 years and was running for a third six-year term. He drew as his Republican opponent State Sen. Bill Cabaniss of Birmingham. Bill was one of the finest men I ever served with in the Legislature. He was honest, forthright, smart and his word was as good as gold. He was a successful businessman who owned a manufacturing business. He served on several prominent bank and insurance boards in Birmingham and was a well-respected gentleman.

Cabaniss was Republican when it wasn’t cool; he was born a Republican in Mountain Brook, the richest suburb in Alabama and second only to a suburb of Dallas as the richest Republican enclave in the South. In addition to their Mountain Brook residence, the Cabaniss family had homes all over the world including a summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine; they were next-door neighbors to the Bush’s.

Alabamians have always resented the wealth and privilege enjoyed by Mountain Brook residents. Well, in 1990, Senator Heflin had access to the best media consultants in Washington. He had plenty of campaign money as the incumbent and had a tremendous head start on Cabaniss in name identification and campaign funds. Given that advantage, Heflin’s consultants decided they needed to define Cabaniss to Alabama voters in a negative way before he could define himself because he was completely unknown to over 90 percent of Alabamians. Heflin’s consultants were studying sophisticated methods to stop Cabaniss before he could get out of the gate but Heflin guffawed at them and said, I’ll tell you how we’ll define him. Off the top of his head, Heflin said, we’ll just tell folks all over Alabama that Cabaniss is one of those Gucci shoe-wearing, Rolex watch-wearing, Grey Poupon mustard-dipping, Kennebunkport, Maine-vacationing, Mercedes-driving Mountain Brook Republicans.

Heflin coined the phrase and used it all during the fall campaign, and it worked. He won reelection overwhelmingly.

Steve Flowers’ political column appears weekly in 72 Alabama newspapers. He may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.