The special election for the U.S. Senate seat has come down to a boring duel among the top Republican candidates over who most likes President Donald Trump.

The underdog Democrats, on the other hand, seem to be ailing for lack of attention as Sen. Luther Strange, Rep. Mo Brooks, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and a few others play the Trump card across Alabama. Whatever outcome occurs in this year’s special election will not significantly benefit the state.

Steaming forward to 2018, the elections that will matter, or at least should, Alabamians will have plenty of candidates to choose from for state offices. Those positions, from governor to legislators, are where leadership counts the most for the state’s citizens.

Electing a governor, a legislator, attorney general or public service commissioner should not sink into a meaningless contest to identify with the president or anyone in Washington, nor should the election become entangled in idealism that matters little to anyone.

Political campaigns are often colorful, crisp with verbal jabs and opponents painting distorted pictures of each other through words. In Alabama, where the Republican Party holds a super majority in the Legislature and dominates just about every state office, preaching conservatism to voters is not going to have a lot of meaning.

First, everyone who runs for office in Alabama avoids any association with liberalism in either political party. And truthfully, it would be difficult to find a liberal in Alabama, especially qualifying for a political race. 

So, we urge voters not to accept rhetorical theatrics about conservative values and liberals. Those are not issues in our state.

The issues are clear if anyone in the race for office will bother to speak up. Dangerous prisons with inmates stacked inside at 175 percent capacity is an issue. The court system struggling to have enough staff to clear dockets is an issue. A crumbling infrastructure system that threatens to halt economic development is an issue. A public education system with a vastly uneven history of funding and success is an issue. Poorly structured taxation that feeds off consumer-heavy sales taxes instead of property taxes is an issue and casts a shadow over the future of the state’s viability.

Alabama has capable leaders, but they often lack courage to tackle the issues and redirect the course of the state.

Too often we have seen legislative sessions end with nothing significant to report. 

Through the years, a lot of time has been wasted on ill-advised non-issues and blaming the federal government for everything wrong. Then everyone packs up to go home after patching budgets.

We encourage voters to press candidates for answers to the issues that continue to hold Alabama back.

Republicans are expected to maintain power for many years because of the will of the people. 

With that dominance of the political scene, a lot more things should be resolved for the betterment of the state. The questions voters need to ask is “Why” and “What will you do?”

At this point, the political party doesn’t matter in Alabama. We know who will be in power. What we all want to know is how to make Alabama better.