Rick Barber, the wannabe Republican candidate for Congress in Alabama, lost his runoff election, despite his informative and educational television ads, which featured him in conversation with various founding fathers, and Abraham Lincoln.

The Tea Party-supported Barber is latest in a long recent line of charmingly ignorant Alabama politicians whose aw-shucks racism, biblical literalism and incoherent ranting turned, briefly, into internet stardom. And like his pioneering predecessors, he is the latest to fail to win his election.

There were some other races in Alabama, if you can bring yourself to care about politics that doesn't feature videos of people talking to bewigged actors about revolution, or whatever. Barber lost to his opponent, establishment candidate Martha Roby, who will face vulnerable Democrat Bobby Bright in November. State Representative Robert Bentley squeaked by state Senator Bradley Byrne for the right to run as a Republican for the governorship (against Democrat Ron Sparks).

Finally, attorney Terri Sewell won the Democratic primary and Don Chamberlain the Republican primary for the 7th district congressional seat formerly held by Representative Artur Davis. If she wins, which is likely in her heavily-Democratic district, Sewell would be the first African-American woman to represent an Alabama district in Congress.

As a eulogy to our shooting star Rick Barber, here's documentary footage of him discussing the finer points of politics with our founding fathers:

[WaPo]