And if he loses it will confirm that the established power players are still in control.
I think that early calls from liberals for Al Franken to resign were solely to put pressure on Moore to step down. They assumed that Franken's seat is safely Democrat, and Franken now provides cover for Moore for as long as he remains in the Senate.
Prior to the Franken photo, McConnell was moving to set up expulsion of Moore should he win. However, the silence from Senate leadership on both sides regarding Franken clarified the rank hypocrisy, emboldened Alabama supporters and also gave Moore the cover to stay in the race.
And here we now are.
I'm sure that McConnell's absence is because he's back in the cloak room figuring out his next move. He already had the NRSC, SLF, and RNC pull their support. Time is running out, the Alabama GOP just sided with Moore. Making a deal with Schumer to oust Franken may have lost its effect because they waited too long to act.
McConnell is running out of arrows in his quiver. What might he do next to up the ante?
I don't know.
-PJ