Alabama voters ready to back the Republican cause over scandal-hit candidate Roy Moore

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  • Ben Riley-Smith, [FONT=&quot]us editor, [/FONT][FONT=&quot]alabama [/FONT]
9 DECEMBER 2017 • 7:11PM
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]H[/FONT]ot Rod is still backing Roy Moore. Calling Alabama’s most popular talk radio station, the trucker explains why the divisive Republican candidate accused of harassing teenagers still has his vote. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They sent Donald Trump up there to do a job and yet the swamp is fighting back. He needs all the help he can get,” he says.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hot Rod - his talk radio pseudonym - dismisses the allegations that Moore made sexual advances on teenage girls while in his thirties as “lies”.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The claims range from driving a 14 year-old to his house in the woods and assaulting her to repeatedly attempting to chat up teenagers.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mr Moore, a former judge now running for the US Senate, has denied them all and ignored calls to quit, declaring himself the victim of a “witch hunt”. [/FONT]


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[FONT=&quot]Buttons sit on a table ahead of a campaign rally for Roy Moore, Republican candidate for US Senate from Alabama[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: BUTTONS SIT ON A TABLE AHEAD OF A CAMPAIGN RALLY FOR ROY MOORE, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR US SENATE FROM ALABAMA[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On Tuesday, the special election, triggered by Jeff Sessions's appointment as attorney general, will finally arrive. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It has become the battle for America's heart and soul, and a measure of the success of Mr Trump, who is firmly behind Mr Moore. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The race has gripped and horrified America in equal measure, becoming a microcosm for debates raging nationally - from "fake news" to toe standards expected of public officials. [/FONT]


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[FONT=&quot]A woman holds a banner referencing Breitbart News Network LLC ahead of a campaign rally for Roy Moore[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: NICOLE CRAINE/BLOOMBERG[/FONT]
 

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[FONT=&quot]The result matters. Losing would lower the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49, meaning just two rebels would be enough to kill any Trump legislation. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Judging by the callers on Matt & Aunie’s morning show on Talk 99.5, Hot Rod is not alone in his scepticism. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Robert phones to say if people’s “morals” are putting them off Mr Moore they should also reject his Democratic opponent, a supporter of abortion. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dale from Tuscaloosa, central Alabama, says Mr Moore may be a "sexual predator" but would still make a better senator than previous Republicans sent there. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Supporter Sherri Martin, of Mobile, Alabama, waits for Roy Moore to speak at a campaign rally[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT:AP PHOTO/BRYNN ANDERSON[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Others ask why it is only now, weeks before an election, that the alleged 40-year-old incidents are surfacing despite Mr Moore’s long political career in the state. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Callers have not been dismissing the claims out of hand, explains Matt Murphy, one half of the presenter double-act, after the show. But they see context. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"They are not discounting the serious nature of the allegations. They accept they are not going to find the truth," Mr Murphy says. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"The accusers, they have a voice, they are saying one thing. Roy Moore's saying something very different.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"The tipping point for them is it turns political: ‘We have to have a Republican in the Senate to politically accomplish those types of things that we believe in and that Donald Trump campaigned on.’ They lean on that as [they consider] which way to go.”[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Not all are leaning the same way, however. In the days after the scandal first broke in the Washington Post, Mr Moore's poll rating slumped. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]For the first time since the 1990s, Alabama, the reddest of red states, suddenly seemed in play for the Democratic Party.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mr Murphy himself has decided not to vote for any candidate, disheartened by Mr Moore's unspecific reaction to the claims. "You've got to earn my vote", he says. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Doug Jones is the man hoping to capitalise on the antipathy. On the campaign stump in Huntsville, north Alabama, the Democratic candidate makes an optimistic pitch. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"This is about the future of this state. How do we want the other 49 states and people from around the globe to see us?” he says to activists preparing to hit the phones. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"This is the most unique opportunity that we've had in more than a generation to put Alabama's best foot forward, to be that face that everyone can point to as the shining example of unity and respect, not division and hate."[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate taking on Roy Moore for the Alabama US Senate seat[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT:REUTERS/MIKE KITTRELL[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Mr Jones, whose southern drawl and heft fit the stereotype of a Deep South man, knows he is fighting in Trump country and has played up core Republican issues. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Keeping the military strong and tackling crime feature in campaign literature, while he has been careful not to embrace Washington too closely. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]But the 63 year-old’s positive tone is a sharp contrast with Mr Moore, 70, who leans hard on his fundamentalist faith and the need to restore Christian values. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mr Moore’s controversial views - he once backed outlawing gay sex and praised slavery-era America for its family cohesion - have horrified Washington insiders, including the Republican establishment. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]They spent millions of dollars trying to defeat his primary challenge against a sitting senator, which against the odds he won, and were quick to disown him when scandal erupted. With one notable exception - Mr Trump.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]At a rally on Friday, Mr Trump went all in, urging Alabamians to “get out and vote for Roy Moore”. On the same day he tweeted: "LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already," and added: "VOTE ROY MOORE!"[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Critics have been quick to note the similarities with Mr Trump’s own campaign - a candidate nearly sunk by assault claims weeks before the vote who rallies to defeat the status quo. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The intervention could prove key. Perry Hooper Jr, who led the Trump campaign in central Alabama last year, says locals still trust the US president. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]"He's more popular than Ronald Reagan was in Alabama," Mr Hooper says. "People like him. He's not a professional politician, he's a populist.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Donald Trump, the US president, holds a vest reading "Bikers For Trump" during a rally in Pensacola, Florida, where he calls on voters to back Roy Moore[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: NICOLE CRAINE/BLOOMBERG[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“He speaks his mind, people like that. He's honest about what he's talking about. He is top notch."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mr Moore's campaign ads have been running the president's endorsement on loop while targeting Mr Jones's "extreme" abortion views. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Recent polls have suggested Mr Moore has begun to pull away, though the result remains in the balance. Voters have just two days to decide. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For Hot Rod, Talk 99.5's regular caller, it is a case of cause over candidate. "I'm going to vote for the Republican," he explains before ringing off. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"The next election that comes up, we'll see if there is someone better and we'll take that person instead. But I'm going to cast my vote for the party."[/FONT]

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At a rally on Friday, Mr Trump went all in, urging Alabamians to “get out and vote for Roy Moore”. On the same day he tweeted: "LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already," and added: "VOTE ROY MOORE!"
Critics have been quick to note the similarities with Mr Trump’s own campaign - a candidate nearly sunk by assault claims weeks before the vote who rallies to defeat the status quo.
The intervention could prove key. Perry Hooper Jr, who led the Trump campaign in central Alabama last year, says locals still trust the US president.



"He's more popular than Ronald Reagan was in Alabama," Mr Hooper says. "People like him. He's not a professional politician, he's a populist.


TELEMMGLPICT000148829366_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQfy2dmClwgbjjulYfPTELibA.jpeg

Donald Trump, the US president, holds a vest reading "Bikers For Trump" during a rally in Pensacola, Florida, where he calls on voters to back Roy Moore CREDIT: NICOLE CRAINE/BLOOMBERG

“He speaks his mind, people like that. He's honest about what he's talking about. He is top notch."
Mr Moore's campaign ads have been running the president's endorsement on loop while targeting Mr Jones's "extreme" abortion views.
Recent polls have suggested Mr Moore has begun to pull away, though the result remains in the balance. Voters have just two days to decide.
For Hot Rod, Talk 99.5's regular caller, it is a case of cause over candidate. "I'm going to vote for the Republican," he explains before ringing off.
"The next election that comes up, we'll see if there is someone better and we'll take that person instead. But I'm going to cast my vote for the party."


5 posts, all by you, and dead wrong. You're a Looney Limey Loser.
 

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