WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Alabama Governor's Race Heats Up Closer To Elections

Alabama Governor's Race Heats Up Closer To Elections

With the election day less than a week away, the Alabama Governor's race is revving up. Governor Bob Riley made a campaign stop at Auburn University Thursday, while Lieutenant Governor Lucy Baxley held a news conference in Montgomery.

With fellow candidate Mike Hubbard by his side, Governor Bob Riley talked to a group of Auburn students and supporters about his vision for a better Alabama.

Riley spoke about raising test scores, improving education, and the negative attacks on his campaign.

"In politics today, you can say anything. It doesn't even have to resemble the truth," Riley said.

Riley is referring to ads, paid for by Lieutenant Governor Lucy Baxley, which claim his administration handed out one billion dollars in no-bid contracts.

"How can he continue to say that he ended no bid contracts. And why can't he just admit that he has continued to practice what he has so harshly chastised Siegelman for," said Gubernatorial candidate Lucy Baxley.

"We've gotten to the point today that even when we're not required to bid contracts, we still bid them. Lucy knows that," said Riley.

While the candidates may view other issues differently, both agree that education should be a top priority in the upcoming term.

"In the last four years, by building a new economic model, by building a new reformed education model, we have transformed this state in the last four years," said Riley.

"I will never take a dollar out of education money. I want to be like Governor Riley said when he was running before. I won't be happy until our schools rank in the top ten nationally like our football teams do," Baxley said.

Governor Riley's bus tour will make a stop at Troy University in Troy Friday morning.