Yep, Roy Moore had African-American supporters.

Even though he bullied a bi-partisan group of Alabama legislators in 2004 as it tried to eliminate language in the state constitution calling for school constitution and poll taxes. (He claimed doing so would increase taxes.)

Even though he once spoke before the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, whom Dylann Roof later said influenced his decision to walk into a Charleston church and murder nine African-American worshipers during Bible study.

Even though he said as late as this year he didn't believe President Barack Obama is a natural-born American citizen.

Despite all those race transgressions--and more--the former Alabama Supreme Court judge had more than a few stalwarts among black voters, almost exclusively because of his staunch and consistent Biblical rhetoric, which he uses to justify anything and everything he purports.

No matter how outlandish.



Just prior to the September faceoff between Moore and Luther Strange in the Republican primary, Moore held a rally for supporters in Birmingham. Those attending included Lou Willie IV, a Democratic political operative based in the city.

"I just wanted to sniff the crowd," Willie told me on Monday.

Willie, who is African-American, saw several other African Americans in the crowd.

"There are a lot of black people who support him based on his biblical principles," Willie said. "I think it's larger than people think."

"Black folks have been misled, misguided and are taking Scriptures out of context," said Charlie Staten, a member of the Alabama Democratic Conference, an African-American political organization; and a state representative to the Democratic National Committee. "Those same [white] Christian folks used Scriptures to justify slavery."

Robert Avery is a former city council in Gadsden, Moore's home; he is also African American and a member of the New South Coalition, a statewide African-American Democratic political organization.

"As a general rule, we are more religious than any other ethnic groups, so I think Roy Moore had a lot of support among blacks because of that," he said.

Had, it seems, at least to some.

In the wake of the growing number of sordid allegations of sexual misconduct by Moore involving teenage girls four decades ago when he was in his 30s and an assistant district attorney--allegations that have thrown the December 12 special election between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones into a unpredictable tizzy--Avery believes support for Moore among blacks "has gone by the wayside."

"I've recently talked to several of my closest friends who were Roy Moore supporters because of his stance on the Ten Commandments," he said. "They said they wouldn't support Moore for all the tea in China. I tried to convince them early on, but now they're swayed."

Not everyone agrees, however: "Black votes are not interested or disinterested in Roy Moore due to the allegations," said State Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, who is also the minority leader in the state House of Representatives. "Black voters are out there up for grabs but there has to be an actual plan in place to turn them out at high levels."

About one in four of Alabama's eligible voters is black (26 percent), and since African Americans traditionally vote heavily Democratic, their support is all but vital--if not essential--for any Democrat to have even a modicum of a chance to win statewide office.

Indeed, no Alabama Democrat has done so in almost a decade--since Lucy Baxley beat Twinkle Cavanaugh for president of the Alabama Public Service Commission in 2008.

The state hasn't sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Richard Shelby in 1992; he's since just ship and is now a Republican, of course. .

Now, with the race anywhere from slight Jones lead to solid but vulnerable Moore lead--depending on your favorite poll--the primary question around African-American voters is whether they will turn out for the special election in numbers sufficient enough give Jones a chance at what would be the "Mount Rushmore" Alabama political upsets.

Natalie Davis, political science professor emeritus at Birmingham Southern College, calls black turnout "fairly critical" in the election, but not the pivotal factor.



"There are two things Doug Jones has to do," she said. "He's got to get out the black vote, but he also has to get out white educated women, which is harder nut to crack. It's never been done on the Democratic side but if you drive around Birmingham you'll see a lot of Doug Jones signs in Republican neighborhoods--and that was before the allegations. Combine the two and it gives Jones a chance."

Prominent African-American Democrats across state offer a mixed picture about turnout expectations and the impact of the Moore allegations on black voters.

Two factors may predict a low turnout among black voters.

Christmas cheer good for Moore?

One is the December date when most Alabamians will be pondering Christmas sales not ballots "The Republican governor set the December date to suppress voter turnout," charged Charlie Staten, a Mobile-area entrepreneur, member of the Alabama Democratic Conference and a state representative on the Democratic National Committee.

The other is a general malaise among black voters not energized by Jones' drumbeat reminder that he prosecuted the Ku Klux Klansmen who killed the four girls in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

"We appreciate his work on that,'" said Willie. "But there needs to be a modern-day incentive for blacks to turn out for Doug, such as addressing the kitchen-table issues in their lives

"He needs to be able to answer; 'If you're elected to the U.S. Senate, am I going to have a good job? Will I be able to pay my mortgage?'"

Thus, Willie believes the turnout will be low. "There's not a lot of enthusiasm around it," he said. "There've been too many special elections; this one is being lost in the shuffle."

Not even the explosion of attention being levied on the race nationwide due to the tawdry allegations by now five women that Moore made inappropriate sexual advances when they were teenagers will boost black turnout, he says--in fact, Willie feels Moore will benefit more than Jones.

"If there's an impact it's going to be counterintuitive," he said. "It will energize Roy Moore supporters."

Avery disagrees abut turnout expectations. "At one time, I was pessimistic [about black voter turnout], but I'm pretty positive now," he said. "I think there'll be a record turnout.

"People understand now the vote is important, particularly with health care. We broke it down to simple terms: one vote in the Senate saved [the Affordable Care Act]. People can relate to that."

"I think [turnout] will be good," offered John Harris, president of the Lee County Voter League and a member of several Democratic organizations. "People will turn out because of health care, and the way they have been hurting due to the cut in so many social programs."

Staten, in Mobile, is pessimistic about turnout: "I just don't see momentum anywhere in the black electorate." But he adds: "It is our responsibility to show up at the polls in large numbers. We'll do whatever we can to make that happen."

Like Avery, Staten believes the recent Moore allegations sways black voters. "It certainly has an impact on the way black folks see [him]," he said. "If white folks were honest with themselves it would have an impact on their thinking, too.



"These allegations didn't show up out of the air. Roy Moore was putting black folks in jail while he was behind the scenes breaking the law, and his actions are being rejected all over the country.

"It's time for [Alabama] to take that forward stance, too. We've had enough corruption here and if we send him to Washington, D.C. it'll send the message that that's who we are.

"This backward thinking needs to stop."

Roy S. Johnson's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com or/and follow me at twitter.com/roysj.