More Evidence Mounts That Odom Is Planning To Take Down Speaker Jimmy Naifeh

By Kleinheider Posted on October 28, 2008 at 7:33 am

From Theo Emery:

Since summer, there’s been a buzz of back-hall chatter about whether Odom will challenge the House’s long-time Democratic speaker, Jimmy Naifeh, of Covington. That talk peaked after Odom called for an outside investigation of a highway patrol officer accused of looking up private records, and has since subsided somewhat.

Since then, Odom has quietly amassed tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, raising more than $82,000 in July, August and September, with $30,000 of that coming around the time of an August fundraiser hosted by the developers of the May Town project in Bells Bend. His campaign just as quickly dispensed more than $20,000 to Democratic incumbents and candidates across the state, and his political action committee, Odom PAC, gave out an additional $7,500 in that period.

The practice of giving money to fellow candidates isn’t unusual in state races and is expected of the majority leader, but some also view that as a sign that he is trying to position himself for the speaker’s chair.

UPDATE: Newscoma loves the intrigue.

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