As a transplant to Alabama and the American South, I'm surprised when events here make their way into the national dialogue.  For reasons other than college football, the coastal media writes off Southerners and the culture here as too tinged with Confederate-inspired non-sophistication to be taken seriously.  For my part, I happily moved here from a blue state where everyone thinks he's sophisticated, and I haven't seriously looked back in nearly ten years.  We certainly have problems, but people here can spot phony, and they hate it.  The accusations against Roy Moore have a strong whiff of phoniness in their telling and retelling that will likely fail to block his election to the Senate next month.

With that said, Moore mismanaged this from his end.  He is an ideal candidate for hypocrisy-hunters and should have been ready for this attack.  It could have been anticipated with a planned set of talking points and an army of credible responders ready to pounce on the story when it came out.  The left is predictable in its tactics and willingness to launch a barrage of innuendo and nastiness if these will help the leftist candidate win.

Perhaps Moore's portrayal of naïveté is one reason he's a popular figure with many in this state.  I suspect that fair-minded people will have a hard time using accusations, especially concerning alleged behavior 40 years ago, as sufficiently compelling to switch their vote.

In my view, this election will likely come down to turnout.

Should he win, Moore's election will test two important principles for Republicans.  The first is, who decides how voters in each state should chose their representatives in Congress, and the second is, how seriously does our elected leadership view the opportunities inherent in holding majorities in each chamber along with the White House?

Like it or not, since 1913, U.S. senators are chosen in each state by the people.  For other than short vacancies, the people decide directly.  The voters of Alabama will choose Roy Moore or not using whatever criteria they like.  Sniping jabs and subtle threats directed at him by national Republicans outside Alabama are cowardly, particularly when delivered in front of a television camera.  If these paragons of virtue really feel so concerned, come here openly and campaign for the other guy.  Otherwise, show us the respect we deserve and stay out of it.

The much more concerning question this campaign raises is just how serious Republicans are about this window of opportunity.  It's disheartening to discover that members of your team really aren't on your side when push comes to shove.  Like President Trump or not, he is doing the business of the Republic in such an effective way that his successor will have a hard time dragging us back to Obama-, Bush-, or Clinton-era fiascos in a single term.  Remaking the federal courts is reason enough to welcome a Moore victory.

Conservatives should stop the pretense that the national press must approve of our team to govern rightly.  Like him or not, Roy Moore will vote to improve the tax code, build the wall, confirm constitutionally minded judges, toss Obamacare, open energy markets, and really rebuild our military.  His opponent will not.

This is the criterion that matters now, and it is why I'm voting for Roy Moore.