Moore’s own flaws and Mitch McConnel are the reason for Moore’s loss.
As bad as Moore was he still would have won had the GOPe not actively campaigned against him and refused to run negative ads against Jones. Shelby’s Anti-Moore media blitz last weekend was devastating. Jones used it to run a state wide robo call against Moore. With “friends” like that who needs enemies?
The biggest element in Moore’s loss hasn’t been mentioned in our exhange. It is a reality that there are a significant number of conservative voters who will not vote for a candidate because of some moral consideration, even if the opposing liberal candidate is overall far worse. And that is not just in Alabama, but everywhere conservative voters exist.
Almost forty year-old allegations can’t be proved or disproved, but Moore never effectively refuted the allegations. The Hannity interview was a near disaster and he left little doubt that he did date girls in their late teens. It was a political hit job, but with the appearance of enough truth to cause some conservative voters, particularly women, to have enough doubt to keep them at home yesterday.
And there was a high turnout of black voters. Alabama will vote 60% to 65% for any good conservative candidate in a general election. It’s unfortunate that Roy Moore ended up being the candidate this time.
And if McConnell could have refrained from sticking his hose into Alabama politics, I don’t think Moore would have won the Republican primary.