The irony of Doug Jones winning the Democratic primary in Alabama's special Senate election on the same day that President Donald Trump was overwhelmingly criticized for making sympathetic statements toward white supremacists isn't lost on state Democrats.

To them, Jones' unique biography as the prosecutor of the two men responsible for the 1963 Sixteenth Church bombing which killed four girls and sparked nationwide outrage during the height of the Civil Rights movement, is "an antidote" to what occurred in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend.

"I think it's beyond irony," said Zac McCrary, a Democratic pollster for Anzalone Liszt Research in Montgomery. "So many people are disgusted by what they've seen play out in Charlottesville and most recently, out of Trump's White House press conference (on Tuesday). It might be the right moment for someone like that. It's the best time to tell that story."

But will that story lead to the unlikeliest of victories? State GOP strategists and longtime observers of Alabama politics have deep doubts about that. At least one Republican analyst says it's not worth the "oxygen" in discussing a Jones upset during the Dec. 12 general election.

For now, in the immediate aftermath of the primary, Jones' win is giving Democrats a rare glimpse of statewide hope. A former U.S. Attorney under President Bill Clinton, Jones won Tuesday's primary with 104,549 votes, or 65.6 percent of the 154,481 votes cast by Democrats.

In addition, Democrats feel that the upcoming Republican runoff - pitting incumbent Sen. Luther Strange against former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore - could be overshadowed by highly negative advertising that hurts both candidates.

But at the same time, most Democrats understand the realities of Alabama: It's a deep-red state which overwhelmingly turned out for Trump last November. The Yellowhammer State hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office since Lucy Baxley defeated Republican Twinkle Cavanaugh in 2008 to become president of the Alabama Public Service Commission, and no Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Alabama since Richard Shelby, who is now a Republican, won as a Democrat in 1992.

"Several things have to break the right way for Doug Jones to be genuinely competitive in this race," said McCrary. "At the moment, you are seeing things that are breaking in his favor. There is an opportunity for Doug Jones to be a vessel against this outrage of the alt right. It's the right candidate at the right time."

Republican political strategists in Alabama do not see a path for a Jones victory. They claim, correctly so, that Alabama Republicans overwhelmingly turned out in greater numbers than Democrats on Tuesday - 417,966 GOP voters cast a ballot during a low-turnout election that drew a mere 17.6 percent of voters.

Moore, the top vote-getter for Republicans, received 162,570 total votes which is more than the entire Democratic field.

But that doesn't mean that Tuesday wasn't a victory, onto itself, for the state Democrats.

"For Democrats, nationally and locally, this is really a no-lose situation," said state Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, and the former minority leader in the Alabama House. "If Doug wins, then Democrats will have pulled off something few people expect and it will give Democrats at every level a lot of momentum going into the 2018 elections. If Luther wins it all, national Republicans will have spent millions of dollars defending an incumbent in Alabama, and it will be that much less money to spend next year."

He added, "If Moore wins, the national Republicans will have spent all that money but now won't have anything to show for it. Roy Moore will be a Republican they can't control, and his brand of extremism will get national attention and turn off a lot of moderate Republicans and independent voters in more competitive states that Republicans can't afford to lose."

William Stewart, professor emeritus of political sciences at the University of Alabama, said Democrats also win in having, for once, a "good candidate" in a high-profile statewide race.

"In the past, just about anyone who paid the qualifying fee could be the candidate of the impotent (Alabama) Democratic Party," said Stewart. "Doug Jones is a fine man and he has a good record of convicting Klansmen. I'm glad to see Doug Jones do so well. We know Alabama is a very red state, but Democrats deserve good candidates to vote for. Often in recent years, they don't have those good candidates."

The Jones victory, and the potential to face Moore in the general election, has some Democrats looking back at 2012, for inspiration. That year, Moore barely defeated Democrat Bob Vance to win a seat on the Alabama State Supreme Court.

The victory came after Vance made a late entry into the race.

Vance, a circuit court judge in Birmingham, said the "same dynamics" exist in Alabama as they did in 2012, in that "a lot of Republicans cannot stand Roy Moore."

"That was my whole strategy when I ran against him to see if I could peel off a significant number of Republican voters to see if I could find a winning coalition," Vance said. "I didn't have enough time to do that. I suspect, though, Doug will do the same thing. Moore is a very polarizing figure even within the Republican Party."

Moore's polarization stems from his two removals from the bench. In 2004, he was removed for refusing to take down a Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama State Supreme Court building. He was then suspended last year for encouraging state officials to ignore federal court rulings that would overturn bans on same-sex marriage.

Moore's past, though, has received little attention in the GOP primary. Instead, the Republican primary has been about currying favor from Trump which was highlighted by Trump's endorsement last week of Strange's candidacy.

"I think that both of their negatives outweigh any connection/loyalty to the president, and that creates an opening - even if it's only a small opening - for a Democrat," said Ford. "We've seen in the various national special elections where Democrats nearly won in places they weren't expected to, and their numbers generally fell back when the election shifted to national issues instead of local issues and the names on the ballot. If Doug keeps that in mind and if he can make this election be about the candidates instead of a statement about national politics, then Doug may just pull off the upset that nobody saw coming regardless of whom the Republicans choose in the runoff."

Said Vance: "If I'm Doug, I make sure my Democratic base is firm and that I go after independents and Republicans who might not be able to tolerate Roy Moore's brand of social conservatism."

Gary Nordlinger, a professor at the graduate school of political management at George Washington University, said there is no reason for Jones to turn the general election campaign into a referendum against Trump, given the president's "high approval ratings in Alabama."

"Mr. Jones already has the 'anti-Trump' crowd," said Nordlinger. "Now he needs to attract others to reach 50-plus in December."

Jones, in the days leading up the primary, received two key endorsements from national Democratic figures - Georgia Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis and former Vice President Joe Biden.

But will the national Democratic fundraising machines follow suit to Alabama? Again, skepticism abounds.

"I doubt the 'national Democrats' will invest a million dollars or more into this campaign," said Nordlinger. "It could actually hurt Mr. Jones by tying him to 'national Democrats' like Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, much the way Senator Strange's opponents tied him to Senator Mitch McConnell. However, if polls show Mr. Jones is within striking distance, then 'all stops' will come out."

McCrary, the Democratic pollster, said the financial decisions are unlikely to be made until well after the GOP runoff late next month.

"This is much more feasible than I thought three months ago," he said. "It's becoming much more realistic by the day and if it continues, it's feasible that national groups on the Democratic side could join the effort in trying to elect Doug Jones."

The Democrats have failed, so far this year, in turning over a GOP seat during special elections elsewhere. In Georgia, Democrat Jon Ossoff lost to Republican Karen Handle in a hotly contested House race in June which drew national interest. The seat had, for years, been a Republican stronghold and was once occupied by Newt Gingrich.

Jonathan Gray, a Mobile-based political strategist, said Alabama has little in common with next-door Georgia. "One thing people in Alabama will tell you is Georgia is southern light. Alabama is the 'Heart of Dixie' and Alabama isn't going to stand for a bunch of Hollywood liberals coming in to tell you how much Roy Moore is a bad guy," he said.

Moore, in one TV campaign spot, appears ready for the fight. "They are afraid to take our Alabama values to Washington," he says during the advertisement, before turning to face the camera. "And I can't wait."

Richard Fording, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, said that a strong battle between Jones and Moore - or Jones and Strange - "might be good for the Republicans."

"If they are little bit scared, it might bring their voters to the polls," said Fording. "If turnout is as low as (it was on Tuesday), it doesn't take many votes to win."

Said McCrary about the potential for a Jones win: "I think it would be on the Mount Rushmore of political upsets."