In what was probably the nastiest Republican primary since the 2010 gubernatorial race, former state senator Bradley Byrne outlasted businessman Dean Young to become the Republican party’s nominee for Congress in south Alabama.

We’ve already walked through 6 winners from the first congressional district Republican primary, now below are 6 losers.

DISCLAIMER: this list is no indication of whether I agree or disagree politically or philosophically with any of these individuals or groups — they simply came up short in this particular race.

LOSERS

Dean Young

Love him or hate him, Dean Young is a fighter. He went toe-to-toe with a more well-known, much better funded opponent and held his own.

Unfortunately for Young, his campaign was just plain outgunned. He’s now 0 for 4 running for public office. Young didn’t rule out running again in the future, but it’s hard to imagine him having another legitimate shot at Congress. Of course, Abraham Lincoln lost a legislative race, a couple of runs for congress and twice wasn’t able to get his state legislature to appoint him to the U.S. Senate before he won the presidency. But to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, Dean Young, sir, is no Abe Lincoln.

Tony Kennon

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon went all in for Dean Young. “I’m supporting Dean Young for Congress,” Kennon said in a robocall (which can be heard below). “He’s an honest straight-shooter who loves you and loves your family and this country. He will stand for our conservative values while his opponent, Bradley Byrne, who is financed by big money special interests, has run a dishonest campaign full of what my daddy used to call ‘balled-faced lies.’”

Now that Young’s lost, Kennon’s a small-town mayor with a terrible relationship with his soon-to-be congressman. Oops.

Mark Levin & Erick Erickson

Levin and Erickson, two individuals with significant influence among the conservative grassroots, came out hard against Byrne.

Levin called Byrne a “moderate” and a “corporatist” and seemed to question his stance on immigration based on the fact that the Chamber of Commerce was supporting him. But here was the most interesting line of Levin’s take on the AL-01 race:

“So just based on what I’ve read, just based on biography, based on who’s taken what position and so forth — I have to endorse Dean Young.”

And while Erickson pointed out Byrne as “an establishment Republican type,” he really only had this to say about his basis for supporting Young:

“I know nothing about Dean Young other than he’s a burn-it-all-down tea party guy…”

Point is, it seems like both of these conservative champions picked their guy based solely on what they’d read in the media, rather than any personal experience they’d had with him. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have supported Dean Young had they gotten to know him, but I find it interesting that two major conservative figures inserted themselves into a race without having a personal relationship with the candidate they were touting. They ended up on the losing end of this one.

Flash polls

An automated poll (as opposed to one conducted by an actual person on the phone) by Montgomery-based political consulting firm Cygnal made the rounds a week before the election. It showed Young with a 3-point advantage over Byrne, 43%-40%. Although some pollsters expressed concerns with the poll’s accuracy shortly after it came out, it was the only public data anyone had on the race, so it got a lot of media attention. To put it plainly, the poll was off. Byrne ended up winning by 5 points, an 8-point difference from what the poll showed just days before the election.

In their defense, turnout was much higher than anyone expected, so that played a roll in the poll’s inaccuracy.

But after talking with a couple of well-known national pollsters Wednesday night, I’m more convinced than ever that it’s important to take these push-button polls with a grain of salt. “If Byrne had actually been at 40% a week before the election, he would have been toast,” one of the pollsters told me. It was fun to debate and a good way to get folks stirred up, but Yellowhammer shouldn’t have touted the Cygnal poll the way we and other outlets did. (Shoot, does that make us a loser, too?)

Our Voice PAC

The super PAC founded by failed Nevada senate candidate Sharon Angle placed a $10,000 ad buy in support of Dean Young’s candidacy in mid-September.

This below pamphlet, which says it was paid for by Our Voice PAC, also made the rounds in the First District attacking Byrne. Yellowhammer never posted it during the campaign because we couldn’t verify its authenticity.

Class

The frequently trumpeted idea that U.S. politics are more divisive and vitriolic than they’ve ever been is pretty much nonsense. Seriously, go read some history about the Jefferson-Adams battles when the country was in its infancy. When Barack Obama pleaded for a “return to civility,” he was calling for something that’s never really existed in U.S. political campaigns.

Check out this awesome video of the 1800 U.S. presidential campaign in the candidate’s own words:

But just like we encourage pee wee football teams to shake hands at midfield — no matter how dirty the other team played — we expect our statesmen to show humility in victory and grace in defeat.

The Byrne and Young campaigns both issued vicious attack ads with questionable accuracy (at best) during the campaign — so it’s understandable that they don’t want to have Sunday brunch with each other. But Young refused to even call Byrne to concede or congratulate him Tuesday night. He also vowed not to support him in the general election — which I suppose means he tacitly supports an ObamaCare-loving Democrat.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims