Dale Jackson: Roy Moore again? Thanks, but no thanks

Former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore is 71 and has lived a full life.

He was an attorney and Etowah County judge who fought for his political life multiple times. Even though he lost three of those fights. He lost his seat on the bench a fight over a 10 Commandments monument, was elected again, then lost his seat over a fight over gay marriage, and then he won a GOP primary against a well-funded appointed U.S. Senator and then lost a U.S. Senate seat and his reputation in the process.

Was Moore wronged? If you think a thinly-sourced coordinated smear campaign being used to call you a child molester qualifies as “wronged,” then yes he was wronged.

Since that campaign, the core accuser has admitted that she wrote some of the words in the yearbook at the center of the allegation and refused to have that yearbook analyzed during the race.

Moore has also recently released the results of a polygraph test that he says exonerates him of three of the charges made against him. For some reason, this polygraph was done after he already lost the seat to now-U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL). That bit of political malpractice alone should disqualify him from further political life.

But in an interview with WVNN and Yellowhammer News’ Jeff Poor, Moore left the door open for another crack at political office, saying, “As far as politics go, I haven’t done anything, run anything.”

He added, “If I do, I’ll let people know. I haven’t ruled it out, and I haven’t made plans yet.”

Obviously, Moore has support.

He received roughly a little over a million votes in 2012, but trailed Mitt Romney by nine points.

Five years later, he lost a special election and received only 651,972 votes because Republicans stayed home and handed the seat to Democrats in our ruby red state.

Governor Kay Ivey received 350,000 more votes than Roy Moore a year later while destroying her Democrat candidate who received almost 30,000 votes more than Jones did in the special election.

2017:

U.S. Senate, Alabama general election, December 12, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	Doug Jones	50%	673,896
	Republican	Roy Moore	48.3%	651,972
	Independent	Write-in	1.7%	22,852
Total Votes				1,348,720
Source: Alabama Secretary of State

2018:

Governor, Alabama general election, November 6, 2018
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Kay Ivey	59.5%	1,022,457
	Democrat	Walt Maddox	40.4%	694,495
	Independent	Write-in	0.2%	2,637
Total Votes				1,719,589
Source: Alabama Secretary of State

These numbers say Moore is a flawed candidate.

The math is obvious. Moore can win a Republican primary, but in a general election, he will depress Republican turnout and excite Democrats.

A Jones/Moore rematch will keep Jeff Sessions’ old Senate seat firmly in blue hands.

Make no mistake about it — Republicans need this seat in 2020 and when Doug Jones and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer read that Moore may be gearing up for a rematch, they will sprain their ankles jumping for joy.

@TheDaleJackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN