Roy Moore, the flailing Alabama candidate for U.S. Senate, has been abandoned by the national Republican Party and most of its leaders.
He's being vastly outspent by his Democratic rival, pummeled on the television airwaves and battered in the state's newspapers. "Stand for Decency, Reject Roy Moore," Alabama's three leading papers thundered in a joint editorial emblazoned on Sunday's front pages.
And yet with just about two weeks to go until the Dec. 12 vote, the race is far from over.
Moore has been accused of multiple incidents of sexual misconduct, including molestation of a 14-year-old girl and assault of a 16-year-old when he was an assistant district attorney in his 30s. Moore, 70, adamantly denies the charges, saying they have been conjured up by enemies and a political establishment that cannot abide his staunch Christian conservatism.
While President Donald Trump has effectively endorsed Moore, questioning the allegations, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan are among the many GOP high-ups urging Moore to stand aside. The Republican National Committee and its Senate campaign arm have walked away from his campaign.
But even some who believe the allegations are sticking by Moore. To their mind, there is something even worse than elevating an accused sexual predator to the United States Senate: electing a Democrat.
"I have no reason to disbelieve any of them," Alabama's Republican governor, Kay Ivey, said of Moore's accusers. And yet, she said, she would vote for Moore. "We need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on the things like Supreme Court justices, other appointments the Senate has to confirm and major decisions," Ivey told reporters.
Not long ago, the idea of Alabama electing a Democrat to fill the seat of Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed unimaginable. It's still no sure bet.
Question: Wow, Alabama must be a super-red state?
Answer: We'll skip the obvious Crimson Tide allusion and stick to the stats: Trump carried Alabama with 63 percent support. Only three states, Wyoming, West Virginia and Oklahoma, delivered a higher percentage of their vote.
The Legislature has been in GOP hands since 2010 and Republicans hold six of Alabama's seven congressional seats. Both U.S. senators are Republicans. In fact, the state hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1992, when Richard Shelby won his second term. Two years later, Shelby switched to the GOP, where he's remained ever since.
