State profile: Alabama

Alabama is one of the southern states where Republican appeals to the state's cultural conservatism have succeeded in turning it from a core part of the Democrat constituency to a Republican bastion.

It has now voted Republican in seven straight presidential elections, and there are unlikely to be any electoral surprises here.

Still, strange things have been happening recently. In 1998, divisions between business and religious conservatives helped Democrat Don Siegelman get elected governor.

KEY FACTS Population: 4,447,100 (ranked 23 among states) Governor: Robert Riley (R) Electoral college votes: 9

Mr Siegelman lost his re-election battle in 2002 but his replacement, Republican Robert Riley, proceeded to promote a tax reform plan which included tax rises for the wealthy and cuts for the poor.

Much of the Republican establishment in the state opposed the plan in a subsequent referendum, and it was defeated two to one.

This was despite Alabama's poverty. The state ranks close to the bottom of most tables relating to educational attainment and average income and close to the top for crime rates and poverty.

2003 CONGRESS House of Representatives: 2 Democrat, 5 Republican Senate: 2 Republican

The state's recent history is inseparable from that of the civil rights movement. It was here in 1957 that Rosa Parks started that movement when she refused to move to the back of the bus.

In 1963, riots in Birmingham provoked President John F Kennedy to endorse legislation which became the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But under segregationist Governor George Wallace, the state's political development lagged behind the rest of the US. Governor Wallace dominated Alabama's politics for quarter of a century, ending an era of populist Democratic dominance that had seen crusades against Wall Street and support for landmark health and housing legislation.

VOTING RECORD 2000: Bush 56%, Gore 42% 1996: Clinton 43%, Dole 50% 1992: Clinton 41%, Bush 48%

Under Wallace, Alabama resisted integration and its economy suffered. The mills, shipyards and factories that had driven the economy of one of the South's most industrialised states declined as world demand fell during the 1970s and 1980s.

Today Alabama is experiencing patchy economic growth. The southern seaboard around Mobile is thriving, its shipyards and chemical plants busy and growing. In Birmingham, a new economic base, centred largely on healthcare and banking, is bringing prosperity and improved race relations.

Car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai have been attracted to Alabama by tax breaks, cheap land and a non-unionised workforce. But large parts of the state still suffer from job losses and foreign competition.