From Politico:

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Roy Moore’s supporters are shocked and angry. But it’s not Moore they’re upset with, after four women came forward to say that Moore pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

Moore, the Republican nominee in Alabama’s Senate special election, made his first campaign stop on Saturday since the Washington Post published the women’s accounts, including one by Leigh Corfman, who said that Moore undressed her and touched her over her underwear when she was 14. Moore denied the allegations before an audience of about 100 at the Mid-Alabama Republican Club in Vestavia Hills, drawing applause while casting the accounts as part of a conspiracy between the media, Democrats and the Republican establishment.

…

“There was kind of a shock of ‘oh my goodness, these accusations.’ And then the second reaction is, ‘Why now?’” said Ed Henry, a Republican state representative. “It just stinks to high heaven. … It’s intended to demoralize and cause Republicans not to vote in December.”