Four-term Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is the 45-year-old "young and vibrant" candidate. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is the 73-year-old veteran of state politics.

The contrasts between the two candidates in the Nov. 6 general election for governor are stark. Political experts say that those glaring differences in style and image, on full display during Tuesday night's election celebrations, will carry forward through the fall.

"He and his wife looked young and energetic and vibrant," said Steve Flowers, a former Republican member of the Alabama House who is currently a political writer and analyst. "Bless Kay Ivey's heart, but she comes across as older than her age."

Those same experts also say that Ivey, who has been in state office for four decades, will face her toughest election contest in her political career in Maddox.

But will any of it matter in deep red Alabama, where Democrats haven't won a governor's race since Don Siegelman's victory in 1998? Where Republicans outvoted Democrats by a 2-to-1 margin in Tuesday's primary?

Ivey, with 325,201 votes, received more support on Tuesday than the combined vote for all of the governor candidates who ran in the Democratic primary.

"The mathematics are such that Maddox can win but he's got an uphill fight," said Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University.

Said Flowers: "Unquestionably, Maddox is better than any Democratic candidate since Siegelman. But we're still a red state. The key is whether he can raise significant money."

Added Richard Fording, a political science professor at the University of Alabama: "The odds are certainly stacked against him. Like Doug Jones, it will come down to turnout."

Fundraising differences

Maddox won Tuesday's primary with 154,588 votes, for 54.6 percent of the overall Democratic primary vote to avoid what, just a few months ago, experts predicted would be a runoff with former Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb.

But Maddox, last month, secured key endorsements from the Alabama Democratic Conference and the New South Coalition that are considered tantamount to winning a Democratic primary in Alabama.

His campaign has been praised for being organized and effective.

"The Maddox campaign really made a difference," said Brown. "He was clearly the one without the name recognition. What he had was he took the manpower of the ADC and New South and he made good use of his money."

But in a state where fundraising matters in statewide contests, Maddox is already off to a disadvantage that will likely carry forward throughout the fall.

Ivey, during the GOP primary, raised over $4.3 million, which was almost twice as much as the $2.4 million raised by Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. He finished second in the GOP primary Tuesday with 144,846 votes for 25 percent.

Ivey spent $4.1 million, secured 55 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff, and ended the campaign with $248,497 cash on hand.

"You have five months of campaigning and the question is can Maddox raise enough campaign money?" Flowers said. "Kay Ivey can raise money as the incumbent Republican governor. That's the only thing I can question Maddox about in making this a race with Ivey."

Maddox raised $928,142, spent $855,991 and ended the primary with $122,152.

Brown said that Maddox also has a problem if the biggest donors come from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Maddox has vowed to push for an education lottery, and ink a compact with the tribe, which operates the only casinos in Alabama.

"It's going to be a real problem if he's viewed that the Poarch Band of Creek Indians become his sugar daddy," said Brown. "But without them, the large major interest groups and large wallets will have lined up with Ivey."

Ivey, during a fly around of Alabama on Monday, was accompanied by the lumber mogul, Jimmy Rane. The founder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving is Alabama's richest resident.

"Obviously, Kay Ivey has a huge advantage," said Fording.

Image portrayals

But where Maddox can generate an advantage is in a political perception and presentation as a candidate offering fresh and "new" ideas.

Those fundamentals were expressed by Maddox during his victory speech at the Tuscaloosa River Market.

"I believe that a new day is possible in our politics," Maddox told supporters.

Ivey, at the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery, said she feels the results of the election show that "Alabama is ... on the right track."

Waymon Burke, a political science professor at Calhoun Community College and a frequent commentator of state politics, said the differing images benefit Maddox.

He said that Ivey, who shunned debates during the GOP primary campaign, will likely continue with that strategy this fall.

"It would not be in their interest in seeing the two side-by-side," said Burke. "I'm 67 myself, and I don't want to run down people on their age, but there is a sharp contrast between these two. Maddox is very impressive and he's very young."

Said Flowers: "The thing I gleaned is that a picture is worth a thousand words."

Flowers compared a potential Maddox/Ivey debate to that of the first 1960 presidential election debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, which Kennedy has historically been viewed as the winner. It was also the first presidential debate broadcast on TV.

"Walt Maddox, he looks young and vibrant and reasonable and solid and has an attractive family," said Flowers. "I'm not trying to be harsh, but there is quite a contrast in appearances and I think that Maddox is a sellable candidate and I think he can win."

Burke said that an age difference can benefit Ivey in a way similar to President Dwight Eisenhower, who reaped political advantages for portraying a grandfatherly image in the 1950s.

"Perhaps she's the grandmotherly type that people have confidence in," he said.

'Junkyard dogs'

Fording thinks she will have to show up for a debate with Maddox.

"She's never been the focus of attention in a race like this and she avoided it, really, in the primary by dodging the debates so she could run a pretty low-key campaign basically fueled by her advertisements," he said. "I do think she is going to have to step forward with a vision and show some leadership."

Zac McCrary, a Democratic pollster based in Montgomery, said there will be pressure and "expectation" on Ivey to debate.

"To some degree, she's in a lose-lose situation now and possibly heading into that if she doesn't debate where the attention and the volume will only get turned up louder and louder and give independent voters and some Republican voters a real pause," said McCrary, who argues that Ivey's campaign mishandled her no-debate strategy during the GOP primary.

And Brown said that Maddox, unlike Ivey's GOP opponents in the primary, will continue with an aggressive strategy.

"I don't think Maddox will run milquetoast," said Brown. "Governor Ivey may have seen 'Mr. Roger's Neighborhood,' but Maddox has the potential to present himself to younger voters and even middle age voters that 'I'm Alabama's future and Kay Ivey represents the Montgomery political culture of yesterday.'"

Said Brown: "I fully expect that we'll see a much more vigorous general election. We're going to move on from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood to the world of junkyard dogs in November."