CENTRE — When Jim Folsom, Jr. enters a room he does it with silent authority. His father, who also once served as Alabama’s governor, may have been known as “Big Jim,” but “Little Jim” is 6-foot-4 and plenty imposing. 

The lieutenant governor was in Centre last week for a fundraising luncheon with county Democrats. A crowd of over 100 attended the meeting at party headquarters on Main Street. 

After dining on barbecued pork and potato salad and shaking hands with fans and local officials, Folsom sat down with the editorial staff at The Post to answer a few questions. 

Asked when he planned to officially begin his campaign for reelection, Folsom leaned his big frame forward and gave a chuckle. 

“I’ve been campaigning, never really stopped campaigning,” Folsom said in his measured, stately drawl. “I’ll be in Fort Payne until about 7 o’clock tonight. Then I’m heading down to the Gulf Coast and take a look at the latest affects of the oil spill.” 

Folsom disputed allegations made by other political leaders that the scope of the spill has been overblown by the media. 

“Anytime you put several hundred million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s not a good thing,” he said. “If we can just get it stopped, then we can focus on getting it cleaned up.” 

Folsom said when the Legislature reconvenes in February 2011, the state’s education and general fund budgets will be front-and-center on the minds of legislators. 

“With all the reduced revenue we’ve had because of the recession, we know we’re going to be at least as bad off as we were last year,” he said. “It’s probably going to be even worse, unless we have a dramatic increase in sales tax collections.” 

Folsom said he is hopeful that the Legislature can repeat the job they performed this year by coming up with another education budget that avoids teacher lay-offs.

He said Alabamians can expect the state to take legal action to try and get back some of the millions that have been lost because due to the shortage of tourism dollars caused by the spill. 

“The Secretary of Education has already filed a lawsuit against BP to try and recoup loses to the Education Trust Fund,” Folsom said. “I expect to see quite a bit of that.” 

Folsom said Republican Kay Ivey, whom he’ll run against in November, is “a nice lady,” but does not have the Senate leadership experience the state requires right now. 

“I am well-versed in the rules of the Senate, I know how the Senate functions, and I have a great relationship with the senators,” he said. “They trust me, and I believe I know when it is time to make things happen from the chair.” 

Folsom pointed to his 2007 decision to step in during a lengthy filibuster to ensure passage of the state’s education and general fund budgets on the final day of the legislative session. 

Folsom also pointed to his past experience with industrial recruitment. Folsom was governor in 1993 when Mercedes chose Tuscaloosa as the site of its U.S. manufacturing plant. 

“We’ve used the same format we used to get Mercedes for all the other automotive manufacturers who have chosen Alabama in the years since,” he said.

Folsom does not consider himself a gambler, and said gaming should not be considered the only possible solution to a state’s fiscal shortcomings. He does, however, believe the people of Alabama should be allowed to decide the issue for themselves. 

“I support the right of the people to vote on it, I support a referendum,” he said. “I know there’s passion on both sides of the issue, but that’s the way to address this once and for all. Let everybody vote so we don’t have to spend so much time on it.” 

Asked his opinion on the governor’s race, Folsom said he hopes Republican Robert Bentley and Democrat Ron Sparks will keep their promises to run clean campaigns. 

“I hope they’ll stick to the issues,” he said. “I think everyone in the state wins if they can do that. I plan to keep my campaign clean, too.” 

Reminded of Bentley’s statement on July 14 that turnout in the GOP runoff was high because many Alabama’s considered the race between he and Bradley Byrne to be the "real" race for governor, Folsom said he believes whichever candidate does the best job of reaching out to undecided voters will have the advantage in November. 

Folsom said around a third of the state’s voters identify themselves as Democrats. Another third, he said, are Republicans, and the final third are the “people in the middle.”  

“Those independent voters will decide who will become the next governor,” Folsom said. “I think that race will be very competitive.”