Where’s Bannon? Moore booster absent in Alabama

In the days leading up to the heated Republican Alabama Senate primary, former White House strategist Steve Bannon stood with his candidate Roy Moore, triumphantly warning GOP leaders in Washington, “your day of reckoning is coming.”

Since Moore’s primary, the former state Supreme Court judge has been accused of preying on teenage girls decades ago. And Bannon hasn’t set foot in Alabama since for the candidate he called “one of the finest men in this country.”

Bannon hasn’t yanked his support for Moore, but if he’s standing by him, it’s at a distance. Associates say he has no plans to campaign in the state before the Dec. 12 election. Meanwhile, his public statements have gone from glowing endorsements of Moore to broadsides against Democratic contender Doug Jones.

The shift reflects the high stakes for Bannon in the race. By backing the renegade Moore, Bannon transformed the sleepy special election into the first battle in what he calls his war on the establishment. But the accusations against Moore have turned what should have been an easy win for Republicans into a nailbiter, and raise the possibility that Bannon will emerge from his first effort bruised and blamed.

The former adviser to President Donald Trump is already moving on, looking past the Alabama election and trying to raise money and build momentum for the next round.

“Bannon has been traveling nonstop, giving speeches across the country and the world,” as well as meeting with donors and political operators, said Andrew Surabian, a Bannon associate and adviser to the Great America Alliance, a proTrump political organization. “We all know what he wants to accomplish. He’s setting the stage for that.”

Bannon pounced on Moore’s Sept. 26 victory over hand-picked interim Sen. Luther Strange as justification for the war he since declared on Republican leadership in Congress, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He blames the Kentucky Republican chiefly for Trump’s stalled legislative agenda and has promised to find pro-Trump challengers for almost every GOP senator seeking re-election next year, with the goal of dumping McConnell.