Tim James – son of former two-term Alabama Gov. Fob James Jr. – will be in Athens today to prepare for a fundraiser for his gubernatorial run.

James, a Republican candidate in the 2010 governor’s race, will meet at about noon at the Clubhouse Café downtown with a group of key supporters to prepare for a fundraiser he hopes to have in November.

According to his campaign Web site, www.timjames2010.com, he has five common-sense plans to increase the number of jobs and improve economic development, including:

• Giving Alabama small businesses the same incentives for growth that are used to recruit out-of-state companies.

• Capturing Alabama’s renewable energy mother lode.

• Deploying Internet broadband statewide.

• Improving roads and bridges for all of Alabama.

• Reviving Alabama’s ghost towns.

The 47-year-old Green?ville resident began his career in construction and was later part of a group managed the construction of the Foley Beach Express in Orange Beach – a six-mile-long four-lane highway and bridge that the group later donated to Baldwin County.

James ran for governor in 2002, finishing third in the Republican primary behind eventual Gov. Bob Riley. He was among several prominent Republicans in 2004 who believed the proposed constitutional amendment to rewrite Alabama’s constitution went beyond removing outdated language from Alabama’s constitution and was more about raising taxes.

James and wife Angela have been married 25 years and have three children, Fleming, Tim Jr. and Sarah.