# Can the Democrats win the Alabama senate special election in December?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [August 13, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504 "2017-08-13T00:49:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 46

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**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/901 "2017-12-08T20:42:57Z")

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> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#):
>
> This could have been sorted out by now had this lady and her lawyer allowed the document to be examined by a document examiner. To me the signature looks dubious too. Im pretty confident that if the document is ever examined by an impartial expert the “Moore D.A.” part of the signature will be deemed a forgery too.

Now all we have to go on is the other yearbook, the other 8 accusers, the other 30 WAPO sources, the Gadsden Mall ban, and literally any time Moore has opened his mouth to speak.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/902 "2017-12-08T20:46:05Z")

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> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> The latest meme: The weather in Alabama next week favors Moore, because it’s going to dip into the teens.

🙂 That needs to be on _Weekend Update_ if _SNL_ is not a repeat this weekend.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/903 "2017-12-09T15:37:23Z")

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Here’s something I don’t get. Listening to NPR this morning, they said that despite all the hoopla surrounding the specially election, turnout is expected to be \< 25%. I can sort of understand that a lot of Republicans just don’t show up because they don’t want to vote for Moore, but can’t bring themselves to vote for a pre-choice Democrat. But still… \< 25%!!

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/904 "2017-12-09T16:23:50Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Here’s something I don’t get. Listening to NPR this morning, they said that despite all the hoopla surrounding the specially election, turnout is expected to be \< 25%. I can sort of understand that a lot of Republicans just don’t show up because they don’t want to vote for Moore, but can’t bring themselves to vote for a pre-choice Democrat. But still… \< 25%!!

Its confusing to me too. The Georgia special election in the 6th district had 58% turnout.

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**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/905 "2017-12-09T17:23:15Z")

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> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> The latest meme: The weather in Alabama next week favors Moore, because it’s going to dip into the teens.

Yep, Alabama has to freeze over before electing a Democratic Senator.

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**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/906 "2017-12-09T18:26:21Z")

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> [@jasg](#):
>
> Yep, Alabama has to freeze over before electing a Democratic Senator.

Your post made me sad.

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**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/907 "2017-12-09T19:05:07Z")

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> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> “I think it was great at the time when families were united – even though we had slavery – they cared for one another … Our families were strong,\*\* our country had a direction\*\*.” Yes, families were united, apart from the ones where family members got sold off individually to other slaveowners and renamed. Good times.

Well, he was right about the part in bold, at least during the Civil War. Our county was focused on stomping the hell out of the Confederacy. Good ole days indeed.

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**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/908 "2017-12-09T20:08:21Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Here’s something I don’t get. Listening to NPR this morning, they said that **despite all the hoopla surrounding the specially election, turnout is expected to be \< 25%**. I can sort of understand that a lot of Republicans just don’t show up because they don’t want to vote for Moore, but can’t bring themselves to vote for a pre-choice Democrat. But still… \< 25%!!

I’m curious. Do you know if that was a statistic determined based on prior years’ special election turnout, current voter registration records or by using some other metric? I agree that for this election, it seems an incredibly low number.

I have heard it noted that most of the people conducting polls in Alabama aren’t very experienced at it because they haven’t had to be, with historic 20+% advantages to Republicans. Such observations were offered as possible explanation for why the polls have been so wildly divergent on the potential outcome.

I am not going to be at all surprised if Moore wins, but I’m not giving up on Jones yet, either. The Virginia polls showed a neck-a-neck race that Dems won by a 9% margin.

Whatever the outcome, Republicans have spent a lot of money, time and energy to debase themselves on the national stage. While it may not matter much in Alabama for this special election, it’s going to be a magnificent cudgel with which to beat them down in the 2018 mid-terms and beyond.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/909 "2017-12-09T20:42:45Z")

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> [@Aspenglow](#):
>
> I’m curious. Do you know if that was a statistic determined based on prior years’ special election turnout, current voter registration records or by using some other metric? I agree that for this election, it seems an incredibly low number.

It was an interview with someone local, but I don’t know the details. I’m trusting NPR to vet their sources, but that’s really all I can say. I have heard the same thing you have, but I’m not sure if that applies to estimates of turnout the same way it does to estimates of the voter split. I guess we’ll see on Tuesday!

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**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/910 "2017-12-09T20:54:53Z")

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> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> I’m glad we’ve got a handwriting expert here on the Dope.
> 
> Right now, what’s at issue isn’t what was or wasn’t added by the woman, but rather what she _says_ she added. And it’s clear that Fox and Rush and all the other usual suspects rushed to claim she’d admitted to forgery, despite the fact that she’d admitted to no such thing.
> 
> And the issue is the woman with the yearbook, rather than the right-wind disinformation machine?

First, who puts additional notations next to signatures in their yearbook? Second, if she did, why wasn’t she clear that “this part right here, I wrote. Moore wrote this part.”? Finally, why didn’t Gloria Allred say it?

That was a deliberate misrepresentation on her part to add validity to the signature (by giving a specific location and date when/where she claimed it occurred). If I have powerful written evidence against someone, I don’t get to bolster it by adding my own written commentary next to it and by my silence, give the impression that it is not my writing. It certainly calls into question the entirety of her story.

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**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/911 "2017-12-09T21:09:18Z")

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Now all we have to go on is the other yearbook, the other 8 accusers, the other 30 WAPO sources, the Gadsden Mall ban, and literally any time Moore has opened his mouth to speak.

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**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/912 "2017-12-09T22:04:19Z")

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> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> \*\*I’m glad we’ve got a handwriting expert here on the Dope.  
> \*\*  
> Right now, what’s at issue isn’t what was or wasn’t added by the woman, but rather what she _says_ she added. And it’s clear that Fox and Rush and all the other usual suspects rushed to claim she’d admitted to forgery, despite the fact that she’d admitted to no such thing.
> 
> And the issue is the woman with the yearbook, rather than the right-wind disinformation machine?

That’s a snidey assed way to misrepresent what I said. We have parts of the yearbook now proven to be a forgery. The “Moore D.A.” part of the sig does not quite line up with the rest of the sig. It’s misalignment at the very least points to it being forged too. This can be sorted out tomorrow. Only one side is preventing _that_.

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**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/913 "2017-12-09T22:12:24Z")

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I can’t tell if the GOP go-to defense is that these women are all bald-faced lying forgerers or that it’s not a big deal for a grown adult male to paw and drool over 14 year olds. Seems there’s some back and forth between these two positions. Would be nice if folks could just settle on one of them.

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**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/914 "2017-12-09T22:14:10Z")

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Moore admitted to dating teenagers, and said he knew at least some of the women who came forward, then changed his story and said he never dated them and didn’t know any of them. He’s very obviously lying.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/915 "2017-12-09T22:26:31Z")

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> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#):
>
> That’s a snidey assed way to misrepresent what I said. We have parts of the yearbook now proven to be a forgery. The “Moore D.A.” part of the sig does not quite line up with the rest of the sig. It’s misalignment at the very least points to it being forged too. This can be sorted out tomorrow. Only one side is preventing _that_.

An annotation does not make a forgery.

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**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/916 "2017-12-09T22:34:02Z")

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If I buy a book and have the author sign it, then I write “Troy Barnes and Noble-12-09-17”, that doesn’t mean it’s not autographed.

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**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/917 "2017-12-09T22:39:15Z")

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> [@DigitalC](#):
>
> An annotation does not make a forgery.

If you make the annotation with the intention of passing it off as someone else’s annotation, then yes it is.

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**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/918 "2017-12-09T23:09:37Z")

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> [@jasg](#):
>
> Yep, Alabama has to freeze over before electing a Democratic Senator.

[Hmmmm](https://weather.com/news/news/2017-12-09-winter-storm-benji-south-mid-atlantic-northeast-impacts)

> [@](#):
>
> Alabama  
> Residents were urged to stay home in northern Alabama as Benji turned roads dangerous. [AL.com](http://AL.com) reported numerous crashes on Interstate 65 Friday morning, and meteorologists said street conditions were worsening as the morning went on.

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**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/919 "2017-12-09T23:11:03Z")

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> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> If you make the annotation with the intention of passing it off as someone else’s annotation, then yes it is.

Why are you hung up on that rather the rest of the note? You know, the bit showing Moore leching on a 15 year old?

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-democrats-win-the-alabama-senate-special-election-in-december/793504/920 "2017-12-10T00:00:57Z")

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> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> If you make the annotation with the intention of passing it off as someone else’s annotation, then yes it is.

What in the world makes you think that was the intention?

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