Dems fight math, history in Alabama

Aided by scandal, Democrats hope to beat Roy Moore

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Renegade Republican Roy Moore may be plagued by scandal, but scandal alone will not convince the voters of 44th Place North to show upfor Democrat Doug Jones.

In a state where Democrats are used to losing, malaise hangs over this quiet African-American neighborhood in suburban Birmingham, even three days before Alabama’s high-profile Senate contest. It is supposed to be a Democratic stronghold, yet the Jones campaign signsare hard to find.

“A lot of people don’t vote because they think their vote [doesn’t] count,” Ebonique Jiles, 27, said after promising a Jones volunteer she would support the Democrat in Tuesday’s election. “I’ll vote regardless of whether he winsor loses.”

With history and math working against them in deep-red Alabama, Democrats fought Saturday to energize a winning coalition of African-Americans and moderate Republicans — a delicate balancing act on full display as Mr. Jones and his network of volunteers canvassed the state. Mr. Moore, by contrast, held no public events, a familiar strategy as he bets big that the state’s strong Republican leanings will carry him to the Senate, despitehis shortcomings.

During an appearance near the staging ground for Selma’s landmark “Bloody Sunday” civil rights march, Mr. Jones declared that Alabama has an opportunity to go “forward and not backward.”

“This campaign has the wind at its back because we are bringing people together from all across this state,” Mr. Jones said after a meeting at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church. “The other side is trying to divide us more than theybring people together.”

Hewas later joined by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of only two African-American Democrats in the Senate, who offered a warning to voters gathered at Alabama State University:

“Bad people get elected when good people don’t vote.”

Saturday evening, Mr. Moore’s camp organized two get-out-the-vote concerts expected to draw overwhelmingly white voters — including some open-minded Republicans — in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than a quartercentury.

Oweda Clark, who lives just around the corner from 44th Place North, admits it’s hard being a Democrat in Alabama. But she plans to votefor Mr. Jones anyway.