Former judge Roy Moore speaks at Oak Hollow Farm in Fairhope with one week to go in U.S Senate race, Dec. 5, 2017: Photo by Glynn Wilson

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Everybody knows the news by now. Ole Ten Commandments former judge Roy Moore just couldn’t resist the opportunity for a little more publicity and another fund raising op. He announced down in Alabama that he’s by god running again for the U.S. Senate seat he lost to Birmingham Democrat Doug Jones in 2017, roiling the Republican primary again and causing the party establishment fits in Montgomery and Washington.

It didn’t take Senator Jones long to respond, since he’s clearly not afraid of Moore and is probably having fun with it, after he recovers from the jet lag of spending all last week with Republican Senator Richard Shelby at the Paris Air Show.

“I’m sure you saw the news,” the Jones campaign said in an email blast to supporters. “Roy Moore just threw his name back in the ring — which will make a divisive Republican primary even more extreme.”

Read “fun,” like another clown car race.

“You all helped make history in 2017, and I need your help again to win next year,” Jones said. “I know we can beat Roy Moore again.”

For his part, Moore spent a few minutes down in Montgomery wondering aloud about why people in places like Washington don’t like him, although I don’t think he came away with any answers.

Then he got to the meat of it, the news everyone was waiting for.

“I will run for the U.S. Senate in 2020,” Moore said. “Can I win? Yes, I can win. They know I can. That’s why there’s so much opposition.”

Senator Jones said in response, even though Moore will dominate the publicity again most likely: “This election is not just about Roy Moore.”

He would rather talk about “fixing the fundamental problem in the Senate right now: with Mitch McConnell in charge, it’s nearly impossible to get anything passed other than his extreme partisan agenda. Adding another extremist to the Senate will just make things worse.”

He offered one example from last week.

“I called on Mitch McConnell to stop standing in the way of equality and pass the Equality Act. On an issue where 60-70 percent of Americans agree, we aren’t even going to vote on it. Instead, McConnell will keep blocking everything we try to get done on civil rights, equality, you name it — and just keep trying to dismantle our health care.”

We can expect more quotes like this as the campaign rages on.

“Don’t let Moore and McConnell put party over country any longer. This has to change. Let’s get the Senate back to work. We can come together and help so many who need it if we could just move past extreme partisanship and remember what we all learned in Civics class in high school.”

The Jones campaign claims a movement was started in that special election, one toward “common ground and civility.”

“We still have work to do,” Jones said. “But I know that when we come together we can overcome division and extremism, no matter who my opponent is.”

Of course even before he faced the #MeToo Movement in the fall of 2017, all the salacious allegations of sexual misconduct with multiple underage girls when he was an assistant district attorney in his 30s back when, Moore was already famous for being kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court, twice. Once for refusing a federal court order to remove a granite monument he carved of the Ten Commandments from the state Supreme Court building he snuck in in the middle of the night, and again for refusing to enforce the law of the land when the federal courts all upheld a ruling making same sex marriage legal.

Even with his fired up base of conservative evangelical voters, Moore lost to a Democrat, the first to hold statewide national office in a quarter century from Alabama. And even though the election was close, it beat the 1.5 percent victory margin to prevent a recount challenge.

Doug Jones Wins Historic Senate Election Over Defiant Judge Roy Moore

In taking a few questions after his announcement, he said he had not seen any of his women accusers, even though court cases are still pending involving the allegations and counter allegations.

“I haven’t even seen the woman involved,” he said.

Republicans in Washington fear a Moore candidacy could cost them a Senate seat in 2020, blowing an opportunity to get it back with Trump heading the ticket, according to The Washington Post.

Jones is vying to turn his three-year partial term won in the special election into a six-year term.

“So it looks like my opponent will either be extremist Roy Moore or an extremist handpicked by Mitch McConnell to be part of his legislative graveyard team,” Jones wrote on Twitter after Moore’s event.

Trump, who held a rally for Moore after the allegations were made, tweeted last month that Moore would lose again if he ran.

“Republicans cannot allow themselves to again lose the Senate seat in the Great State of Alabama,” Trump tweeted. “. . . I have NOTHING against Roy Moore, and unlike many other Republican leaders, wanted him to win. But he didn’t, and probably won’t.”

“If Alabama does not elect a Republican to the Senate in 2020, many of the incredible gains that we have made during my Presidency may be lost, including our Pro-Life victories,” Trump continued. “Roy Moore cannot win, and the consequences will be devastating. . . . Judges and Supreme Court Justices!”

Alabama’s senior senator, Republican Richard C. Shelby of Tuscaloosa, echoed Trump’s concerns Wednesday ahead of Moore’s campaign announcement and said he would not support him.

“There are a lot reasons known to you and everybody else,” Shelby said. “I think Alabama could do better. I think he would be a disrupter. I think we can win that seat back as the Republicans, but I won’t support him. I think if Roy Moore’s nominated, it would be difficult to hold the seat.”

The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), piled on, issuing a statement that “nominating Roy Moore would be gift wrapping this Senate seat for Chuck Schumer,” a reference to the Democratic minority leader.

Moore spurned the “Washington establishment” for opposing his candidacy but refused to speak ill of Trump.

“President Trump has every right to voice his opinion. I believe he’s being pushed by the [National Republican Senatorial Committee],” Moore said. “I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I don’t disagree with him in lots of his policies.”

Moore also rejected that he was defying Trump by running.

To that, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: “This is pure fake news. I can assure everyone that by running, Roy Moore is going against my father and he’s doing a disservice to all conservatives across the country in the process.”

Some Republicans are hoping Sessions will run again for his former seat, a move he has not ruled out. Shelby said if Sessions does run, “he’d probably clear the field.”

Several Republicans have already announced bids, including Rep. Bradley Byrne, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep. Arnold Mooney and former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville.