Roy Moore Campaign Analysis

The best way to characterize the campaign efforts of Roy Moore is modest. In a typically red state made up of more than 52% right leaning residents and following the election of Donald Trump many thought this election would just continue Republican dominance in the state (“Party Affiliation”). With just under $1.8 million dollars raised Roy Moore enjoyed a modern day front porch campaign remaining mostly active on social media (Strauss and Bland). Roy Moore didn’t actively travel or push for tough grass root efforts but rather, remained active on twitter with over 609 tweets, attempting to mobilize young Republican Alabama voters (“United States”). Through his social media platform he emphasized his past history as a judge, his conservative
This strategy was used by Republican Bob Dole against the Democrat Bill Roy during the 1974 senate race in Kansas. Towards the end of the election Bill Roy was winning in the race and Dole, following the Roe v. Wade decision was the first to ever use abortion as an campaign issue (Rose). Bill Roy was a doctor himself and Dole attack Roy for having performed “thousands of abortions.” This caused mass outrage towards Roy right before the election leading to swarms of Republican volunteers protesting Roy at church parking lots and distributing flyers to everyone labeling Roy as a “baby killer” (Rose). This powerful technique was Roy Moore’s last-ditch effort to get himself elected. Roy Moore commanded grass root efforts to spread flyers and his TV/twitter ad titled “WE DARE DEFEND LIFE” to present Doug Jones as strong believer in abortions (Fisher). The “WE DARE DEFEND LIFE” ad was posted on December 10th and highlights the development of a baby and the human like features of fetuses. These features highlighted by the ad included a fetuses ability to hear a mother’s voice, form fingerprints and to dream. After describing the fully-grown aspects of a fetus Moore compares this too the statement “Doug Jones wants abortion to be allowed until the moment before birth” (“We Dare”). Then the statement “But here in Alabama we dare to defend our rights, freedoms and life” is shown with images of babies with their mothers and inspiring music in the background. This ad was especially powerful and marked a essential last ditch effort for Moore’s campaign as just over 58% of Alabamian residents believe that abortions should be illegal in all cases (“Views about”). By presenting the idea that Doug Jones may support abortion, Moore raised a serious dilemma for Alabamian voters. For many the issue of abortion is a very serious one, especially in the very Christian state of Alabama made up of