Moore's rise to national prominence began in 1995. The ACLU sued Moore, then a state Circuit Court judge, because he posted a hand-carved plaque of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and opened court sessions with Christian prayers. His stand became a statewide sensation. "God has chosen, through his son Jesus Christ, this time, this place for all Christians -- Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox," declared state Attorney General William Pryor at a pro-Moore rally at the time, "to save our country and save our courts." Then-Gov. Fob James threatened to call up the National Guard to defend Moore and the Ten Commandments against the feds, if necessary. A federal judge eventually ruled that the ACLU'S clients lacked standing in the case -- and Moore rode a wave of popularity to the national lecture circuit and election as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
Moore says he won't decide about a presidential run until he exhausts all appeals in his Ten Commandments case. He fought repeated orders to remove the rock, even after federal court appeals failed. Last November, his fellow justices of the Alabama Supreme Court (seven of whom are Republicans) decided they'd had enough, suspending Moore from office, and removing the monument. "People who govern in the name of God," said Justice Douglas Johnstone at the time, "attribute their own personal preferences to God, and therefore recognize no limit in imposing those preferences on other people." The state Court of the Judiciary then made the ouster permanent. Moore's appeal to a special court of retired judges, sitting in the place of the Alabama Supreme Court, was unanimously denied on April 30. Moore may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Montgomery Advertiser, the major newspaper in the Alabama state capital, thinks Moore is just "teasing the Constitution Party" and that he would rather not risk playing the spoiler and help elect John Kerry. "But," the paper averred in an editorial, "if Alabamians have learned anything from Moore's past, it's that logic doesn't play much of a role in the decision-making of the Ten Commandments judge." And former Montgomery Advertiser political reporter Todd Kleffman, who covered Moore during the Ten Commandments fracas, predicts Moore will run. "Though he hasn't said it yet," Kleffman wrote recently in the Danville, Ky., Advocate-Messenger, "my hunch is that Moore will soon announce that he is running for president on the Constitution Party ticket."
Whatever his final decision, clearly Moore's crusade has made him a national figure who is wildly popular on the Christian right. He has become a fixture of both mainstream and conservative Christian media from CNN to Pat Robertson's 700 Club. Charismatic and a proven vote getter, Moore won his race for an open seat as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court 878,480 to 726,348 in 2000. Now, as he barnstorms the country, he's galvanizing conservative Christians in a manner not seen since Oliver North was fired from his White House job in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal. Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund wrote in February that he has seen Moore rouse the crowds at major Christian right conventions from Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum to Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Moore was "treated like a rock star" by the Christian Coalition, "signing autographs and getting thunderous standing ovations." Last month Moore addressed a crowd of about 1,000 Great Falls, Mont. "The crowd was very enthusiastic," says Travis McAdam, a researcher with the Montana Human Rights Network. "People were definitely there to see him [Moore]. And really liked what they heard."
It should come as no surprise that Moore has emerged as the dream presidential candidate for leaders of the Constitution Party, which generally views the federal judiciary as unelected tyrants. But the Constitution Party is also an improbable vehicle for any kind of national campaign. It is not only small, but its far-right platform and cast of controversial characters are arguably not ready for mainstream America and the glare of the international press.
Still, the party could give Moore a vehicle for doing some damage to Bush, if that were his goal, in at least a handful of key states, most notably Florida, where after ostensibly winning by 537 votes in the bitterly contested 2000 race Bush is currently running behind John Kerry in most polls. Ironically, Florida is the place where even those analysts skeptical about the impact of a Moore run say he could make a difference.
Last November, Moore appeared at the Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., and packed the house with more than 1,000 cheering people. "The country has not seen the likes of Moore in many, many years," senior pastor Chuck Baldwin told the crowd, according to the Pensacola News-Journal. "He is a modern-day Patrick Henry and Daniel from the Old Testament." Baldwin is the choice for vice president of the only announced candidate for president, Michael Peroutka, party chairman in Maryland. But Baldwin, who is also a columnist and radio talk show host, has recently told a reporter that he would support Moore if he runs.
"After you have divided up the secure Bush states and identified places where 1 or 2 percent of the vote might make a difference," says Tanya Melich, a former Republican activist, and now an independent political consultant, "as I look at the map of states in play, there is really only one -- and that's Florida."
She doesn't think Moore would be much of a factor in his home state. "Alabama is such a solid Bush state," she told Salon. "I just don't see how it would go to Kerry." She sees a potential Moore factor in Louisiana, which went for Bush last time, but is "in play," since Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's reelection victory last year. Melich sees Minnesota (Gore) and Michigan (Gore) as possibilities as well, noting that George Wallace enjoyed substantial support in Michigan.
Micah Sifry, author of "Spoiling for a Fight," a recent book on third parties, thinks that Moore could potentially siphon off enough Christian right votes in Colorado (a Bush state last time) and Oregon (a Gore state) to put both states in play, to Kerry's advantage. But Sifry cautions that some who vote for third-party candidates are people who would not otherwise vote. So in a Moore campaign, Sifry concludes, "Some votes you take from Bush; some you take from nowhere."
Hastings Wyman cautions, however, that among conservative evangelicals "Bush is generally well liked, and there is not a lot of dissatisfaction with him."
Christian Coalition president Roberta Coombs agrees. She says Bush has "huge support" among conservative Christians, and that Moore would be unlikely to peel away much of that. But still, she worries. "I personally like Judge Roy Moore," she told Salon. "I admire the stand he took for the Ten Commandments. But I definitely don't think he should run. I think he could hurt the president."
Next page: The Constitution Party's theocratic design