Alabama mayoral candidate fakes support of popular football coach

Few people are more popular in Alabama these days than University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Fresh off leading the Crimson Tide to an undefeated national championship season after years of pre-Saban mediocrity, the coach has a reputation for turning everything he touches into gold.

So what state political candidate wouldn't want to bask in his reflected glow — even if doing so involves a bit of clever photo manipulation? Dorothy Davidson — a candidate for mayor in Bessemer, Alabama — is distributing campaign fliers featuring a photo of her and the popular coach posing on a golf course together. Below the photo of Saban and Davidson, the flier reads: "Nick Saban fully supports Dorothy 'Dot' Davidson, and thinks she would be an excellent Mayor for the City of Bessemer."

However, there's just one problem with these fliers: Saban never posed for a photo with Davidson, nor has he endorsed her mayoral candidacy.

Yes, a nimble Davidson campaign worker evidently brought the two together courtesy of some photo-editing software. Davidson's campaign pulled a 2007 photo of Saban and his wife, Terry, from the coach's charity's website, removed his wife, and replaced her with an image of Davidson.

Davidson initially insisted that the photo of her and Saban was authentic but later backed down after she was shown the original. Davidson later told Anita Debro of the Birmingham News that her campaign had permission to alter the photo, saying, "They said we could do it this way."

Davidson's campaign manager insists that he secured the coach's permission for the ad — the latest in a long line of political marketing gems to come out of Alabama this election season — and fittingly enough, says the deal was struck over a recent round of golf.

"My dad, Larry Morris, and coach Saban are friends," Kevin Morris told the paper. "We were on the golf course one day, and I asked him myself if this would be OK."

However, the University of Alabama athletic department insists otherwise, saying that Saban "has not been contacted for a political endorsement of any kind."

The Bessemer mayoral election will be held this Tuesday — which still leaves Davidson plenty of time to distribute a flier featuring an image of her childhood self posing with long-deceased Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

(Photos via Nick's Kids and Al.com)