Why Mitch McConnell Wants Roy Moore to Step Down in Alabama
It's not so much that he's great on ethics and morality...
http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2017/11/why-mitch-mcconnell-wants-roy-moore-to.html
"Trump, with his simplistic view of the world, thinks that an unrepentant Moore candidacy is the best path toward maintaining 52 GOP votes in the Senate. Trump has learned the hard way that every vote matters, that the Democrats will vote as a bloc against him, and he cannot count on the votes of a number of GOP Senators who have little to no loyalty to him as it is: John McCain, Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Linda Murkowski and, depending on the issue, quite a few others (Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Bob Portman and on and on). A victory in Alabama by Democrat Doug Jones means that at the starting line for any legislation, the GOP can afford only one defector, not the current two. Trump wants some legislative victories and his vision extends as far as the next few days, weeks or maybe months. He thinks a Moore win would help him with some 2018 wins.
McConnell, on the other hand, is playing the “long game” and has a more sophisticated view. Sure he’s concerned about the GOP brand in the Senate, and about winning close votes in 2018, but he has a far more prosaic and practical concern: losing the Senate in 2018.
How is that possible? Doesn’t the GOP have an impregnable map? They have the ingoing 52/48 advantage; 10 potentially vulnerable Democratic seats up for grabs in states that Trump won in 2016; and only eight GOP Senators up for reelection, six of whom won in 2012 (when they last ran) by +17 points or more in their solid red states. What could be a more solid bet than the GOP maintaining control? But a clear-eyed McConnell sees it this way..."
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