WHO’S the Trumpiest of them all? For the Republicans in Alabama vying for Jeff Sessions’s old senate seat, vacated after Donald Trump appointed him attorney-general, that is the most important question. In last year’s election, 62% of voters in Alabama cast their ballot for Mr Trump. Among those likely to vote in the Republican primary on August 15th, he boasts an approval rating of 85%. Rather than meaty policy questions, perceived closeness to the president will in all likelihood be a decisive factor as voters go to the polls next week.

Polling suggests that three candidates have a realistic chance of reaching the run-off in September. Leading the pack with 30% of the vote is Roy Moore, a culture warrior whose chief accomplishment was to be ousted from his post as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court on two separate occasions after he defied federal court rulings, citing religious objections. In 2003 Mr Moore refused to remove a gigantic 5,280lb (2,400kg) monument displaying the Ten Commandments, which he had installed in the court. And in 2016, he ordered state justices to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Duelling for the second spot are Luther Strange, the former state attorney-general who has filled the seat since Mr Sessions’s departure and whom many regard as the establishment candidate, and Mo Brooks, a congressman who has insisted that Democrats are waging a “war on whites”.

But as a campaign tactic, the old jeremiads against Democrats have lost their force. For nearly a decade the dirtiest words in Southern politics were Barack Obama (with Nancy Pelosi, the longtime Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, a close second). Now that the former president has retreated into hibernation and Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House, jibes against Obamacare, Planned Parenthood and the “war on coal” ring hollow.

With hardly a policy disagreement to separate the three candidates, the contest has degenerated into vicious mud-slinging, mirroring the nationwide schism between Trumpists and traditionalists in the Republican Party. Two of the trio have begun to hone in on Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky senator and Republican majority leader. In one campaign ad (pictured), Mr Moore urges voters to “send them ALL a message”—showing Mr McConnell alongside Ms Pelosi, her Democratic colleagues Tim Kaine and Chuck Schumer and the Republicans' John McCain and Paul Ryan, united as traitors to the Trumpian cause. In the same ad, he accuses Mr McConnell’s “DC slime machine” of “bearing false witness”. Mr Brooks, whose greatest vulnerability is his support for Ted Cruz in last year's presidential primary, has answered charges of being a “NeverTrump Washington insider” as McConnell-sponsored lies. After repeated failures to get a Republican health-care bill through the senate, Mr Brooks suggested that Mr McConnell was responsible and should resign.

If the aim was to demonstrate allegiance to Mr Trump, this may have appeared like a viable strategy for some time. The president clearly has his own reservations about Mr McConnell. On August 10th, he tweeted: “Mitch get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!”

Despite the best efforts of Messrs Moore and Brooks, the president announced his endorsement for Mr Strange in the primary on August 8th—probably after considerable cajoling from Mr McConnell. Mr Brooks might have scored an endorsement from the president were it not for his statements during the presidential primary. He had accused Mr Trump of, among other things, "serial adultery” and being a “notorious flip-flopper”. But he has since forgotten much of what he found disturbing about Mr Trump, campaigning across Alabama in a “Drain the Swamp” bus tour, and bragging that he votes with the president 95% of the time. He has also touted the endorsements of “conservative thought leaders” like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham in his campaign ads, which may make him more popular with voters: the radio shows that made them stars are hugely popular in the state.

Mr Strange, who had been left holding the political hot potato of Mr McConnell’s endorsement, can now soothe himself with the president's endorsement. The $2.4m that a McConnell-controlled super PAC has spent on advertisements bashing his opponents may also console him. One such ad paints Mr Brooks, somewhat incredibly, as a career politician aligned with Ms Pelosi. Another accuses Mr Moore of “wanting moore”, referring to a $1m in salary he and his wife drew over nine years from running his Foundation for Moral Law, a not-for-profit Christian legal organisation. (Mr Moore's campaign disputes the figure.)

In the end, the results may hinge on factors other than the candidates' talents to insult each other. The axiom in American politics that turnout is all-important is no less true down south. Despite the national interest the race has generated, Alabama’s chief election officer reckons that turnout will be less than 25%. Lower turnout is thought to benefit Mr Moore, whose evangelical base is most committed, and hurt Mr Strange.

For Alabama's voters, who eventually wins the race may not matter all that much. Asked about the differences between the candidates' policy commitments Marty Connors, a former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, only laughs. “You would need dental floss to be able to separate the differences between them.”