In the overwhelming majority of instances, sitting governors enjoy enough party support to stave off a primary challenge. In Alabama, however, a certain fundamentalist theocrat already appears poised to seize the GOP nomination away.
A new poll shows Roy Moore with a lead over Gov. Bob Riley in the race for the 2006 Republican gubernatorial nomination, a potential boost for the former chief justice should he decide to run for the office.
A Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll of likely Republican primary voters shows Moore with a lead of 8 percentage points over Riley in a hypothetical primary matchup. Moore drew support from 43 percent of respondents, while the governor garnered 35 percent.
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The poll found that Moore had a favorable rating of 72 percent – a number University of Alabama political scientist William Stewart described as potentially “intimidating to the governor.”
I suspect that Gov. Riley will announce he’d like to “spend more time with his family” if Moore does jump into the race and the polls continue to show these kinds of results. On the other hand, maybe there’s a bright side to the poll results — about one in four Alabama Republicans don’t approve of Roy Moore. All things being equal, that’s better than I expected.
Nevertheless, Moore, who has already indicated he’s considering the governor’s race, has to be considered the front-runner at this point. Be afraid.