Roy Moore, the disgraced former Chief Judge of the Alabama Supreme Court is thinking of making a comeback — a run for the GOP nomination for governor of Alabama in 2006. According to the web site We Need Moore, the web site of the Draft Roy Moore campaign (backed by Conservative Christians of Alabama), Mr. Moore will make his intentions known in what is described as “a major announcement” on Monday, October 3 at 1:00pm in Gadsen, Alabama, Moore’s hometown. “This will be an historic occasion,” according to We Need Moore. “The eyes of the nation are upon Alabama. We need a crowd to show support for Judge Roy Moore and the media that we have strength. Ya’ll come and bring a carload.”
Moore, popularly known as the “Ten Commandments Judge” is thought to be a serious contender against the business oriented incumbent Republican governor, Bob Riley. Moore is also said to be seeking to field a full slate of candidates for statewide office.
On the Democratic side, the Associated Press reports that current Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley is expected to square off against former Gov. Don Sielgleman.
Moore is best known for installing a two and a half ton monument to the Ten Commandments in the state courthouse, shortly after his election as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. A federal judge declared that the monument was religious display that violated the constitutional separation of church and state and ordered Roy’s rock removed. Moore refused to remove the monument and was subsequently removed from office. In so doing, he became a national hero of the Christian Right, and a central figure in far right efforts to undermine the federal judiciary.
As much as many Christian Right pols are a departure from the golf club Republicanism of much of the latter 20th century, Moore is a further departure, representing an overtly and confrontationally theocratic politics — reminiscent of the pugnacious populism of former Gov. George Wallace.
The Birmingham News recently reported about one of Moore’s recent appearances at a church in Ozark, Alabama: “More than 200 people filled the green pews of the Glory to Him Church to hear Roy Moore preach about God and government on a humid Thursday night. “We will always be one nation under God. No federal court, no federal government, no state government can deny it,” Moore thundered. “Amen” the crowd answered back.