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Trump, Obama record dueling robocalls ahead of election

By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter

Today’s election versus Republican former Alabama Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roy Moore and Democrat former Clinton era U.S. Attorney Doug Jones has become hyper-partisan nationally. Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) has endorsed Moore. Pres. Trump was in Pensacola Friday urging his supporters to come out for Moore in today’s special election. Trump has also taped a robo-call for the embattled Moore. Former Pres. Barack H. Obama (D) has also gotten heavily involved in this election; though he is asking voters to come out for Jones.

Former Pres. Obama has prepared his own robo-call, which is targeting Democratic voters to turn out for Jones.

Obama says on the call, “This one’s serious. You can’t sit it out. Doug Jones is a fighter for equality, for progress.  Doug will be our champion for justice. So get out and vote, Alabama.”

Alabama voters rejected Obama both in the presidential elections of 2008 and 2012. Alabama voters came out overwhelmingly for Trump in both the GOP primary and in the general election, where he got a stunning 63 percent of the vote. Pres. Obama, however, won 90 percent of Alabama black voters in both of his elections. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) got a similar percentage of the black vote; however, far fewer black voters came out to vote. For Doug Jones to win today, he has to have higher than expected black turnout. Jones crushed his Democratic Primary opponents in August, but both Moore and Strange had more voters, as many more Republicans came out to participate.

“Hi, this is President Donald Trump and I need Alabama to go vote for Roy Moore,” Pres. Trump said in his robo-call. “It is so important. We’re already making America great again. I’m going to make America safer and stronger and better than ever before but we need that seat. We need Roy voting for us. I’m stopping illegal immigration and crime, rebuilding our military and protecting the Second Amendment and our pro-life values, but if Alabama elects liberal Democrat Doug Jones, all of our progress will be stopped cold. We already know Democrat Doug Jones is a puppet Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, and he will vote with the Washington liberals every single time. Democrat Jones is soft on crime, weak on immigration, supports abortion, he’s bad for our military and bad for our vets. We don’t want him, and he also, by the way, wants higher taxes. Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass our Make America Great Again agenda. Roy is a conservative who will help me steer this country back on track after eight years of the Obama disaster. Get out and vote for Roy Moore. His vote is our Republican Senate, and it’s needed. We need Roy to help us with the Republican Senate. We will win, and we will Make America Great Again.”

It is highly uncertain though whether Republican voters will heed Trump’s pleas that his voters come out for Moore, who has been beaten down by weeks of media bombardment over accusations about his conduct in the 1970s in the Gadsden area dating scene. Moore denies ever mistreating any woman. Many moderate Republicans never liked Moore’s emphasis on acknowledging God, and some believe that the decades old accusations against Moore should disqualify him for office.

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Jones has been actively recruiting Republicans to vote for him, and the relentless attacks on Moore’s character have been designed to suppress Republican turnout. Moore has been outspent over 10 to one as national Democrats have flooded the state with resources.

Polls open at 7 a.m. today and close at 7 p.m.

(Original reporting by CNN contributed to this report.)

Brandon Moseley is a former reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter.

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