c. 2005 Religion News Service

MONTGOMERY, Ala. _ He lost his position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court after building a solid political base; he learned kickboxing and then left for Australia after losing his first political race in Alabama when he was 35.

Roy Moore isn’t an ordinary politician, and experts don’t expect an ordinary race as Moore looks to be the next governor of Alabama.

“It changes the usual dynamic,” said Brad Moody, a professor of political science at Auburn University Montgomery.

Moore announced Monday (Oct. 3) in Gadsden that he would run for governor, likely facing Gov. Bob Riley in the Republican primary election June 6. State Sen. Harri Anne Smith is considering entering the Republican primary and said she will decide in December.

Two Democrats, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and former Gov. Don Siegelman, are already running. The Democratic primary is also June 6.

Moore, 58, said Monday that if elected, he has no plans to relocate the Ten Commandments monument from its new home at a church in Gadsden.

“But I’ll tell you what I will do. I will defend the right of every citizen of this state _ including judges, coaches, teachers, city, county and state officials _ to acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty and government,” he said.

Baptist chaplain Len Gavin of Bessemer, former executive director of the Alabama Republican Party and a Moore supporter, said the GOP fight will be largely between religious conservatives backing Moore and business interests backing Riley.

“The big check-writers and the country club Republicans are not going to vote for (Moore), but the Wal-Mart Republicans will. And they’ve elected every Republican who has ever been elected in Alabama,” Gavin said.

William Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, said Moore’s candidacy will bring more attention to the race next year.

“A Roy Moore candidacy certainly makes the race more exciting,” he said, “and it will get more national attention.”

Moore became a hero of religious conservatives after fighting several times to keep various replicas of the Ten Commandments on display in public buildings _ first in his Etowah County courtroom and then in the rotunda of the state Supreme Court building in 2003.

Moore’s refusal to remove the 21/2-ton monument against the orders of a federal judge ultimately led to the state Court of the Judiciary removing him as chief justice.

After the firing, Moore toured the country speaking about the right to acknowledge God.

To those who have criticized him as a one-issue candidate, Moore said his one issue is summed up by his campaign theme: “Return Alabama to the people.”

In a theatrical campaign kickoff, he signed a giant copy of his campaign platform that calls for limiting legislators to three terms; stopping legislators from holding two state jobs, such as teachers who also are lawmakers; reducing the influence of teacher lobbyists Paul Hubbert and Joe Reed; ending annual tax reappraisals of property; imposing new fines and penalties on businesses that employ illegal immigrants; and opposing the expansion of gambling.

In his fight to keep the granite Ten Commandments monument, Moore argued that as chief justice he was obligated to acknowledge God and refused U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson’s order to remove the monument.

“It’s generally bad publicity _ the idea of a judicial officer defying the federal courts,” said David Lanoue, a professor of political science at the University of Alabama.

After Moore refused to remove the monument, thousands of people, many of them conservative Christians, over a week’s time demonstrated in front of the judicial building.

That may hurt Moore rather than help him, Lanoue said. “Some voters may be troubled by the circus atmosphere around the judicial building.”

Stewart said Moore is an underdog in a race against Riley, who has not announced his candidacy, but not an impossible underdog.

“I’m not writing Roy Moore off,” Stewart said. “He’s very charismatic. Riley is favored right now, but it’s not sewed up.”

If the race is close, it will be because of Moore’s carefully cultivated and devoted supporters. It’s a base that has embraced Moore.

After his loss in a race for Etowah County circuit judge, at 35, Moore went to Texas to learn kickboxing. After that, he traveled to Australia and worked as a ranch hand.

With Moore in the race, Moody said the Republican primary will be hard-fought.

“We were just getting used to Republicans winning statewide races,” he said. “We certainly are not used to having hotly contested Republican primary races.”

Lanoue said Moore would run a strong race against Riley, and it may make Riley try to appeal to more conservative voters.

“It certainly means the governor would have to tack right in the primary, which wouldn’t help in the general election,” Lanoue said.

Riley will try to cast Moore as a “one-trick pony,” Lanoue said, or suggest Moore is a lightning rod for controversy. And the race won’t be easy for Moore, who has held only one statewide office, because he will face skilled politicians such as Riley and Siegelman or Baxley.

“They are more formidable opponents than what he had when he ran for chief justice,” Lanoue said.

Moore easily defeated Democrat Sharon Yates in the race for chief justice in 2000.

Stewart said the governor’s race may hurt the Republican Party, which has started making inroads in the state.

“It’s not good for the Republican Party for real intra-party squabbling,” he said.

As the poster child for the evangelical political movement, Moore may be the real test for the movement, which promotes God in government and opposes gay marriage and gambling, Stewart said. The movement has made significant inroads in the Republican Party in recent years.

“You could classify it as a make-or-break case,” Stewart said. “If he loses, they could be more marginalized.”

MO/PH END RNS

(Taylor Bright writes for The Huntsville Times in Huntsville, Ala.)