Fred Clarkson picks up on one of my favorite topics today in Salon — Roy Moore’s possible presidential run. (I happen to know Clarkson, so believe me when I tell you he knows of what he speaks.)
Clarkson seems to agree with my earlier assessments on this. Moore may not run, but if he does, he’s likely to give Rove, Mehlman, and Co. far more indigestion than Pat Buchanan did in 2000.
Moore wouldn’t respond to Clarkson’s requests for an interview, but looking back at Moore’s comments and schedule from the last few months, it’s clear everyone’s favorite theocrat is giving this serious thought.
Clarkson notes that Moore would likely find a comfortable home with the Constitution Party, which, with 320,000 members and ballot slots on 41 states, is the “third-largest party in the U.S, in terms of registered voters.” But he acknowledges that the party’s radical platform wouldn’t find a receptive audience with most Americans.
[T]he Constitution Party is also an improbable vehicle for any kind of national campaign. It is not only small, but its far-right platform and cast of controversial characters are arguably not ready for mainstream America and the glare of the international press.
That’s fine, of course. Moore isn’t supposed to run to compete; he’s trying to spread his bizarre message. Of course most Americans would reject the Constitution Party’s dangerous platform, just as they always have. The point is, however, that Moore, whose agenda is equally disturbing, could help peel away some of Bush’s ultra-conservative backers who view the president as insufficiently radical.
In a closely-divided country with 20 or so battleground states, that’s all Dems really need.
[The Constitution] party could give Moore a vehicle for doing some damage to Bush, if that were his goal, in at least a handful of key states, most notably Florida, where after ostensibly winning by 537 votes in the bitterly contested 2000 race Bush is currently running behind John Kerry in most polls. Ironically, Florida is the place where even those analysts skeptical about the impact of a Moore run say he could make a difference.
Last November, Moore appeared at the Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., and packed the house with more than 1,000 cheering people. “The country has not seen the likes of Moore in many, many years,” senior pastor Chuck Baldwin told the crowd, according to the Pensacola News-Journal. “He is a modern-day Patrick Henry and Daniel from the Old Testament.” Baldwin is the choice for vice president of the only announced candidate for president, Michael Peroutka, party chairman in Maryland. But Baldwin, who is also a columnist and radio talk show host, has recently told a reporter that he would support Moore if he runs.
Florida isn’t the only state that Moore can help push from “Red” to “Blue.”
[Tanya Melich, a former Republican activist, and now an independent political consultant] sees a potential Moore factor in Louisiana, which went for Bush last time, but is “in play,” since Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s reelection victory last year. Melich sees Minnesota (Gore) and Michigan (Gore) as possibilities as well, noting that George Wallace enjoyed substantial support in Michigan.
Micah Sifry, author of “Spoiling for a Fight,” a recent book on third parties, thinks that Moore could potentially siphon off enough Christian right votes in Colorado (a Bush state last time) and Oregon (a Gore state) to put both states in play, to Kerry’s advantage.
The question remains, however, if Moore would knowingly undermine the Republican Party. Clarkson notes that Moore seems to harbor a grudge. For example, Moore continues to quote George Wallace (an appropriate choice, in light of the circumstances) by telling audiences, “As somebody from our state, George Wallace, once said, ‘There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them.’ It’s all about power. I think the people need a choice.”
Moore remains angry that he’s gotten insufficient backing from fellow Republicans for his crusade to keep the Commandments in his courthouse, and to keep his job as chief justice. During his speaking gigs, he often shows a video in which Attorney General William Pryor makes the case against him before the Alabama Court of Judiciary. The implicit message is that Pryor personifies the GOP establishment’s betrayal of Moore’s vision of Christian constitutionalism. The betrayer in chief is, of course, President Bush, whose recess appointment of Pryor to the federal bench was supposed to please Christian conservatives.
“Bill Pryor was a professed Christian who had to choose between his Lord and his political career,” said Jim Clymer, national chairman of the Constitution Party. “He chose his political career.”
For his part, Moore told the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, “Bill Pryor made a decision on who he would side with, and I’m disappointed it’s not with the people.”
Will all of this be enough to push Moore to run for national office? We’ll see. He still has about six weeks to decide before the Constitution Party has to choose its candidate.