Beth Chapman to Run for Secretary of State: Supports Crackdown on Voter Fraud

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — State Auditor Beth Chapman announced Monday that she will run for secretary of state next year, promising to work for honest elections and to push for legislation requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.

Chapman, 43, said she would seek the Republican nomination for the position, currently held by Nancy Worley, a Democrat. (AP)

Nancy "Surly" Worley responded in typical fashion:

"I think she's been running for this office since the first day she moved into the auditor's office," Worley said of Chapman. "I think it's not a surprise that she is running and she certainly has every right to do that."

Chapman is probably best-known for a patriotic speech that made the rounds on the internet in 2003. For some mysterious reason, that speech currently unavailable on her campaign's web site, but a cached version is online here. Here's how it starts:

I’m here tonight because men and women of the United States military have given their lives for my freedom. I am not here tonight because Sheryl Crowe, Rosie O’Donnell, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, the Dixie Chicks, Barbra Streisand, George Clooney or Phil Donahue, sacrificed their lives for me.

If my memory serves me correctly, it was not movie stars or musicians, but the United States Military who fought on the shores of Iwo Jima the jungles of Vietnam , and the beaches of Normandy.

Tonight, I say we should support the President of the United States and the U.S. military and tell the liberal, tree-hugging, hippy, Birkenstock wearing, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and music and whine somewhere else.