Posted by On Easter weekend, former Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore talks about a resurrection of his own political career, saying he’s "very inclined" to run for governor in 2010. Moore received 33% of the Republican primary vote against the incumbent Bob Riley in 2006.
Moore’s entry doesn’t do any favors for Tim James, the only announced GOP candidate at this point, as their bases of support overlap, but the sense here is that James has locked up a lot of support that might otherwise go to Moore. Even with no incumbent in the race, wouldn’t you be surprised to see Moore get 33% of the primary vote?
State GOP Chair and House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard says he is not entering the 2010 governor’s race, but he is considering the lt. governor’s race.
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No Moore. Or as Roberto Duran might say “No Mas.”
Moore can’t raise any money – he’s been going zero-for-everybody in trying to line up commitments. And he cannot get a single professional consultant to handle his campaign. He won’t be a factor, and his whole campaign – when he is being begged by those close to him to give up this hopeless cause – is sad.
I really doubt Tim James has locked up the support of anyone who does not have the last name James (only close relatives with the name James that is).
It is James who needs to give up a hopeless cause.
By the way, were on earth on your getting any info that anyone around Moore is begging him not to run?!
Would I be suprised to see Moore get 33%?
No, I suspect he has that as a starting base no matter what. Look how weak his potential primary opponents are. The bad economy helps him since he is an anti-establishment candidate.
It will be interesting to see an independent poll.
Remember, Moore did not have big negatives in the Republican primary polling last time. The polling really did show most Riley’s support was a pro-Riley vote rather an anti-Moore.
A lot of people here have written their own version of history that simply does not match reality.
As Joe Turnham said, Artur Davis will drag the dem ballot down, the same would apply for republicans if Moore was at the top of the ticket.
#2 I can name people who were involved at high levels in Roy Moore’s last campaign who have begged him not to run. And yes he has been turned down by every consultant in the region – that is why the ridiculous loser Dean Young is his campaign guy even after Moore accused Young of stealing $500,000 from him before.
So yes, Moore is a total joke. And yes, the people who had money and supported Moore before have all committed to Tim James. That won’t win the race for James – he’ll have to broaden that support considerably. But James has a chance. Moore does not -thank God (to use of the Judge’s fave phrases).
The Democrats probably are doomed no matter what.
If Davis wins, he would be the most liberal candidate in a state wide general election ever.
He has moved to the left since November with 100% support of Obama.
If the democrats defeat him it will be by beating him down which will probably leave the party divided beyond repair.
So Moore or any Republican would defeat Davis.
Dude Tim James is a joke he got less than 10% in a wide open race in 2002.
You hate Moore so much – you want to talk him up.
That’s a dog that will not hunt.
And Tim’s dad suffered the biggest general election blowout in the history of seriously contested general elections.
And the worse defeat any incumbent governor has every suffered in this state.
Moore getting in the race can only hurt James. They have the same constituency and I think they would split that 33 percent. All due respect to the guy on here who is always saying Tim James is going to surprise us all, but the GOP race is coming down to whether or not someone can pull Byrne into a runoff.
For what its worth, there is alot of banter on the LeftInAlabama.com blog that Moore is pondering running for Governor as an Independent. He has endorsed the two previous Constitution Party candidates in the 04 and 08 presidential races. This could possibly set up a Bryne/Davis/Moore race that would be very interesting imo. Any thoughts?
Jinks I believe you are correct in stating that Byrne is the early frontrunner. He has the Riley suppprt with Hawkins out. But Johnny, no one is “hating” on Moore. He’s just done. His popularity peaked around 1998 and his been falling ever since. He’s broke – that is why he is insisting on running for governor. His “Foundation for Moral Law” is broke. He needs cash.
Young, it would not suprise me one bit if Moore ran as an Independent. That way he could fundraise right through November and money is what he needs most.
Moore as an IND will only get single didgits in a GOP vs. Davis race. Moore might be a tiny factor, but not enough for Davis to win . . .although the Demos might fund Moore to try . . . and that would work for Roy.
I wouldn’t assume that Davis is automatically going to win the Dem. Primary. If Hubbert and the AEA put all their money behind Bedford (or another candidate), it could get very interesting.
Moore as an Independent would be interesting. Still, it wouldn’t mean Davis gets a majority and becomes governor. Either the GOP would win anyway or be forced into a runoff with Davis.
I don’t Moore is the issue in a general election. I think Davis has a very real ceiling of 40-45 percent, and that’s a whole lot of votes to make up even with a significant third party candidate.
Johnny Davis – you apparently have no clue who is supporting James. He has lined up support right and left and Moore is way, way behind. Cry about it all you want but it is true. Moore is behind plus he can come no where near James’ money. If James doesn’t raise enough he can easily use his own. Moore cannot say the same. James is clearly a step ahead. Check out his website http://www.timjames2010.com and read up on what he has been doing and who is on board if you don’t believe me. If Moore had been out in front it may be different….but he has not.
I would tend to agree that James has made himself a serious contender by his actions. Whether you like him or hate him, James has done the things he needed to do to be taken seriously. And he has plenty of money. That is always big. I think that James and Byrne are contenders. I do not know who else is.
Roy Moore is in the ash bin of Alabama political history. He is like Guy Hunt when he ran for governor after getting his pardon – he’s just done. Period.
Roy Moore is over. When is Bradley Byrne going to announce?
look for a byrne announcement after the session, i’d think, and i heard june a while back.
Last Tuesday night a top GOP strategist from Birmingham, Chris Brown of Southern Insights, spoke to my College Republican group at UA. He was extremely convinced since Folsom decided to run for Lt. Governor the Luther Strange was going to run for Governor and that an announcement was to come in the near future. He already has a website up(lutherstrange.com) and is making the rounds to various GOP and Conservative groups around the state. Thoughts?
Luther Strange very well jump in, its not settled who the Riley BCA candidate will be or if they actually will rally around one candidate.
2010, name some names – no names on that webpage and there has been no news of endorsements of James.
Just running for 10 years really proves you want power too much not that someone is a serious candidate.
Luther has told many, many prominent GOPers he is running for AG. He can’t change now.
Johnny, give it up. Moore is done. All his support is with James. James will need more than that to win, but he DOES have it. Moore has ZERO monetary support from his big donors last time. They are all – to the donor – with James.
luther’s running for ag. next.
Viability, spare me your Moore fixation. My last past was about Strange and James.
My opinion of James would be the same if Moore had never been born.
If Moore went away, I don’t think the relgious right would rally around James. Many would stay and other would support the most acceptable of the other candidates.
The James name is truely mud.
Given his loss in the lt gov’s race I think its best he run for AG. He’d be a huge improvement over the current occupant of that office.
I don’t think Folsom is as strong as people but Strange is unlikely to take him own. Right now the Governor’s race make look easier.
The most likely race is AG esp. since King may not be around come June.
But if the Governor’s race gets even more open..
#22 – you said “since King may not be around come June” – could you expand on what you mean?
The real question is how has King stayed around this long?
Moore is a non-starter as far as winning a primary is concerned. He peaks out at 12-15 percent. However, that vote could be a deciding factor in a run-off between Byrne and James. It will not go to Byrne, the question is will it come back out at all in a runoff six weeks after the primary?
I do not rule out a Moore run as an independent ( a third party would likely be unable to get on the ballot). A race between Davis and Byrne would be a dead heat, regardless of what the anti-Davis Dems and hard core Rs on this blog think, and a Moore vote of as little as five percent could be important.
Moore will run as a Republican. Watch this interview where Moore says he still is a Republican and he will run as a Republican (around the 7:00 mark):
http://www.myfoxal.com/dpp/news/20090310_Roy_Moore_Talks_to_FOX6_News
Actually – per party rules – Moore’s support for the Constitution Party and other actions COULD be used to block him from running as a Republican. May not happen, but it COULD. I would imagine Mike Hubbard will let him on the ballot as he probably sees Moore as no threat to “establishment choice” Bradley Byrne and Moore might actually help Byrne by pulling support from James.
moore would indeed help byrne by pulling votes from james. no doubt about that. but how many he could pull??? who knows. I do think Byrne should get in the race even though i like james. but we don’t need a one man race – so we need both byrne and james to atleast have a good choice in the gop primary. i am not sure who i would vote for between the two.
and strange for gov? that is ridiculous. i do hope, however, that he runs for AG. King needs to go home.
It probably that Byrne will run but that’s not even certain.
It very silly get so all fired certain about what you claim’s going to happen.
Where so certain Ivey would almost instantly collapse to the point of not being able to run for anything.
A lot remains to be seen.
Byrne has hired a campaign team. He’s running.
Who did he hire?