i would also say this. the purpose of roy moore, of course, was not to win the election. luther strange would have won this in a walkoff. the purpose of roy moore for steve bannon and moore supporters in the state, would be tobasco sauce in the eyes of mitch mcconnell. the purpose of roy moore, even if he made it less likely to do so, was that it was worth it to torture the republican party. dana: this is a proxy battle between mitch mcconnell and bannon and it s happening in alabama. the president has been away on an ambitious and quite a grueling asia trip. i would say it s been a net positive for him. what are the things he will face when he get backes? there s a short legislative window to get a lot done. he s going to have the tax plan dumped in his lap right at the moment when it becomes obvious that this thing has gone all kabuey. dana: really? the way the timing will work
happens back home and you can t anticipate what it s going to be. the alabama senate race was not supposed to be dramatic, but it has been. listen to mitch mcconnell on what he said about the chance of a write-in candidate. are you encouraging a write-in campaign? that s an option. we re looking at whether or not there is someone who can mount a write-in campaign successfully. would it be strange to you? we ll see. dana: how would all of this work if it would come to that? well, look, you heard from doug jones. the danger from republicans is doug jones is doug joans is to alabama as scott brown was to massachusetts. he s the kind of guy who remember it s a short term. he said, i may be a democrat, but i m a moderate democrat. and his track record as a prosecutor said he s a law and order guy. look, it s only for a year and a
now read mr. moore s statement and listened to his radio interview in which he denies the charges. i did not find his denial to be convincing and believe that he should withdraw from the senate race in alabama. after calling on moore to step aside, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was asked about next steps. are you encouraging a write-in campaign with senator strange? that s an option we re looking at. whether or not there is someone who could mount a write-in campaign successfully. will it be senator strange? we ll see. reporter: democrats are clear saying there is aolt choice for alabama voters. they do not have to support the republican candidate. i think roy moore is unfit for office. but this is going to be a decision, obviously, for the people of alabama. good news for the people of alabama is they have a clear alternative in doug jones, who grew up in alabama, became a prosecutor. he s focused on jobs, focused on
basically attacking the accusers. now going after his own party. going after mitch mcconnell who, among the party, has a solid reputation and is pretty consistent. dana: that s true except for i think that in alabama, it could help him because the draining the swamp push against mitch mcconnell seems to be creedance with other people. can we talk about one other person while we have you here. listen to what joe biden said ab his future. are you in the race for 2020? i can tell you, honestly, if the lord came down and said joe nomination is yours but you have to take it now, i would say no. i honest to god haven t made up my mind about that. right now i m focused on the book and winning off year elections. you re not closing the door? we re not closing the door. i have been around too long. i respect fate. who knows what the situation is going to be a year and a half from now. dana: the book was not political but, of course,
joining us is marjorie clifton principal of clifton consulting. losing time. you have such great and important titles. let me read to you a tweet from roy moore. he said the person who should step aside is senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. he has failed conserve teufrbs and must be replaced hash tag drain the swamp. what do you think? i think he should step aside. i think that tweet is indicative of that fact. the fact that this guy has become a distraction to the party, not just in alabama. say that he was to possibly win, these allegations have far stretching impact on the party. for those republicans that choose to not say, you know, he can defend himself, which he certainly can, but that he shouldn t step aside, it could be problematic for our party. similar to what happened in