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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn Alabama, Can Doug Jones Fend Off Tommy Tuberville and Trump?
MOBILE, Ala. On Tuesday evening, addressing supporters and the news media after his runaway victory in the Alabama Senate Republican primary, Tommy Tuberville wasted no time in pivoting toward his general-election opponent this fall, Senator Doug Jones. In Mr. Joness Alabama, he said, You dont work for the United States of America you spend your first three years trying to impeach the best president weve ever had. And he voted to impeach him!
As for how Mr. Tuberville will try to frame the race against the Democratic incumbent in the months to come, his message is unlikely to get more complicated than that.
Mr. Tuberville succeeded in his primary campaign against Jeff Sessions in large part by keeping the race simple. His strategy began and ended with President Trump, arguing in a bevy of television ads that a vote for his opponent was a vote against the president. And according to early conversations with his campaign staff, Mr. Tuberville plans to keep Mr. Trump front and center in the general election, reminding voters of moments like Mr. Joness vote against Brett M. Kavanaugh, Mr. Trumps nominee to the Supreme Court, in 2018, and his more recent vote against the president during his impeachment trial.
But one aide for Mr. Tuberville, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added the caveat that the campaign had yet to hold many meetings about its strategy against Mr. Jones. As with most races against Democrats in Alabama, the aide joked, there wasnt a whole lot to talk about.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/in-alabama-can-doug-jones-fend-off-tommy-tuberville-and-trump/ar-BB16N887?ocid=NL_ENUS_D1_20200716_9_2
Sounds like Tuberville has his lips permanently affixed to Trump's ass.
lame54
(35,339 posts)moose65
(3,169 posts)Technically, Jones did NOT vote to impeach Trump - he voted to convict and remove him from office.
And also, Jones hasn't been in office for 3 years. He was sworn in in January 2018.
Seems like Tuberville just might be taking this seat for granted. He doesn't have any political experience, does he?
BlueTsunami2018
(3,505 posts)Against a beloved football coach in Alabama? I dont see any way we hold this seat.
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)the kind with lowest turnout. They got turnout to get a D into an Ala. Senate Seat.
AlexSFCA
(6,139 posts)political newcomer. One can only hope there is some compelling dirt on him like with moore. We need agressive negative campaigning effort. During Dougs election, some shadow dem groups were clever enough to launch active disinformation campaign learning from RWNJ that worked in our favor. Nothing is off limits, we need Doug to win at all costs.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)leftieNanner
(15,187 posts)You mean like the fraudulent hedge fund he founded? Where his partner went to prison for 10 years? That kind of dirt?
How about the one game suspension he meted out to one of his football players who raped an underage girl?
Lots of stories are going to come out. He may regret running.
yonder
(9,683 posts)kentuck
(111,110 posts)Do you realize how much the Alabama football fans hate Auburn?
Of course, Jones has a great chance!
irisblue
(33,041 posts)snip-98% of Black Women in Alabama voted for Doug Jones
snip--"And a full 96 percent of Black voters in Alabama Tuesday supported Jones, including 98 percent of African-American women. "Black women led us to victory. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic party," Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez tweeted Wednesday morning, "and we can't take that for granted. Period."
source-https://www.npr.org/2017/12/13/570531505/black-votes-matter-african-americans-propel-jones-to-alabama-win
snip--"Even more surprising for some was the high voter turnout of African-Americans. NBC News exit polls show 96 percent of black voters supported Jones, with 98 percent of black women and 93 percent of black men backing him."
source2-https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/why-black-women-showed-vote-doug-jones-n829411
snip--"They said they were motivated by the specific fears that Mr. Moore would help President Trump cut government aid programs, reduce access to health care and neglect criminal justice reform. But they also voted out of a more general concern that the country, in the Trump era, was going back to a place best left in the past.
Source3-https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/us/doug-jones-alabama-black-voters.html
Sen Jones is not likely to have forgotten this.
Music Man
(1,184 posts)The last poll had Tuberville leading 43-35, which is not insurmountable by any means, but Jones is definitely the underdog. He has to at least find a way to make the undecideds break his way. REALLY turning out African-American voters would also help.
Alabama will also undoubtedly go for Trump. He's going to need to convince Trump voters to split their ballots.
While dishonesty and nastiness are unacceptable, the Jones campaign is going to have to frame him negatively immediately if they're going to have a shot at this. The same aforementioned poll said 30% of voters had a neutral opinion of Tuberville. Time to shape some opinions.