Trump records 'robo-call' for Moore ahead of Alabama vote

[December 11, 2017]  By Andy Sullivan

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) - President Donald Trump sought to boost Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore by releasing a recorded phone call on his behalf in the final stretch of a bitter Alabama election fight marked by accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore.

Moore, a 70-year-old conservative Christian and former state judge, will face off in Tuesday's election against Democrat Doug Jones, a 63-year-old former U.S. attorney.

On Monday, the eve of the election, the Moore campaign was scheduled to roll out a "robo-call" with Trump's voice telling voters that if they do not support the Republican candidate, progress on his agenda will be "stopped cold."

The U.S. Senate race in deeply conservative Alabama has divided Trump's Republican Party.

While Trump is backing Moore, many other national Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, distanced themselves from Moore after he was accused last month by several women of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One woman accused him of trying to seduce her when she was 14.

Moore has denied any misconduct. Reuters has not independently verified any of the accusations.

Opinion polls show Moore with a narrow lead in the Southern state, which Trump won by 28 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential election.

The allegations have given new hope to Jones, who has touted his record that includes prosecuting former Ku Klux Klan members responsible for a 1963 bombing of a black church in which four girls were killed.

If Jones wins on Tuesday, Republicans would control the Senate by a slim 51-49 margin, giving Democrats much-needed momentum ahead of the November 2018 congressional elections, when control of both chambers of Congress will be at stake.

'RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY'

Jones has spent the past week rallying African-Americans, the most reliably Democratic voters in the state, and hammering Moore in television ads.

He held a series of get-out-the-vote rallies across the state on Sunday.

"This campaign, ladies and gentlemen, is on the right side of history for the state of Alabama,” Jones told supporters in Birmingham on Sunday.

Moore has maintained a low profile, refusing interview requests and holding few public events. He planned an election-eve rally with former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who has been one of Moore’s most ardent backers.

Police stop and speak to a man as he rides his bike with signs of support for Alabama Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore around a venue that will host U.S. President Donald Trump later in the day in Pensacola, Florida, U.S., December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Moore got a formal endorsement last week from Trump, who also had to battle accusations of sexual harassment during his 2016 presidential race. Trump has denied the allegations.

Trump underscored his support for Moore at a rally on Friday night in Pensacola, Florida, near the Alabama state line, where he said Jones would be a “total puppet” of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Moore's campaign has cast Jones as a liberal out of step with Alabama voters, seizing on his support of abortion rights.

Many Republican officials in Alabama, including Governor Kay Ivey, say they will vote for Moore.

But the state’s senior Republican senator, Richard Shelby, said he did not vote for Moore and instead backed a write-in candidate. “I think the women are believable,” Shelby told CNN on Sunday.

Moore may find a chilly reception in Washington if he wins. Republican Senator Tim Scott told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the chamber would “immediately” subject Moore to an ethics investigation.

Democrats have signaled that they may use Moore’s election to tar Republicans as insensitive to women’s concerns at a time when allegations of sexual harassment have caused many prominent men working in entertainment, media and business to lose their jobs.

Allegations of sexual misconduct prompted the resignations last week of three lawmakers - Democratic Senator Al Franken, Democratic Representative John Conyers and Republican Representative Trent Franks.

(Additional reporting by Zachary Goelman in Birmingham, Ala. and Lucia Mutikani in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney)

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