They did run a black Democratic candidate in the primary...Pastor Will Boyd. Boyd’s notoriety and public exposure was to one single county in the state, and he had virtually no way to get recognized in the short period of time involved in this special election. From the one interview I saw of the guy...he came across in a positive way and could at least talk to state issues. Beyond that, Boyd had no support structure behind him.
For Jones to win, he needs a massive showing of black voters. In a normal election year, with various offices up for grabs, I think Jones, with this fake accusation business, would have had a better chance of winning. But this is an election without a lot of issues.
Jones, to be honest....is only known for the most part in the north part of the state. In the past, newspapers in the state would have ‘carried’ Jones weekly and made him more known. But generally....most folks in Alabama have given up on the newspapers, and I doubt if you can find more than one in six adults who read a paper regularly. A lot of the state newspapers are down to printing maybe three or four times a week. The local news column in most papers now is limited to one single page.
So Jones is facing a near impossible task. Most folks are skeptical of the accusation story. Most folks are negative about McConnell. Most folks also feel the bulk of GOP characters running around the state are tainted or corrupt (Moore is one of the few without that tainted situation). With the exception of the three or four urbanized areas of the state....the state is three-quarters Republican at this point.
I had never heard of Doug Jones until this race and I’m pretty political.
I’m down in Mobile. Don’t know Jones at alll except he’s a flaming liberal, but going by his commercials “low energy” doesn’t begin to describe him. I can’t see anybody getting fired up to vote for this guy.