In 2010, Republican Senator, Richard Shelby, sought and won reelection for his second term as a state Senator.He beat his challenger, William Barnes, with a margin of 30%. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/bios/#60557 He is the senior Republican Senator of Alabama. Shelby earned both his Bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Alabama before becoming an attorney in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and joining the American Bar Association. He was first elected to the Senate in 1986 and is a member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.http://shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Biography

In February 2009, a newspaper article out of Alabama reported that Shelby had raised questions about the citizenship of President Barack Obama. The Cullman Times quoted Shelby as saying, "Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president." A spokesman for Senator Shelby later called the report a "distortion," adding that Shelby "doesn't have any doubt" about Obama's citizenship.http://www.cullmantimes.com/local/local_story_052203445.html

On September 23, 2008, Senator Shelby voiced dissent over an unprecedented government bailout plan to purchase $700 billion in mortgage debt. According to the Senator "we've been given no credible assurances this plan will work." Despite Shelby's misgivings and those of other Republicans, the plan was approved by both the House and the Senate in early-October 2008.http://blogs.wsj.com/wallstreetcrisis/2008/09/23/dodd-shelby-voice-skepticism-of-bailout-plan/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Shelby spent 15 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat before switching to the Republican party in 1994.

• 1971-1979: Member of Alabama Senate
• 1979-1987: Alabama Representative, 7th district
• 1987-present: Senator of Alabamahttp://shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Biography

• Anti-gun control
• Pro-life
• Supports flat tax
• Opposes NAFTA
• Opposed $700 billion mortgage bailout plan
• Opposed President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus packagehttp://www.wrbl.com/rbl/news/local/local_govtpolitics/article/senator_richard_shelby_upset_about_new_stimulus_law/60011/