The US state of Alabama went to the polls this week in an election that can hardly have been more polarised.
In what is normally rock solid Republican territory, the GOP candidate Roy Moore faced Democrat Doug Jones. Mr Moore, a right winger opposes abortion in all circumstances, thinks homosexuality is a sin and believes Muslims should not be allowed to hold government jobs.
However Moore’s political views were not what made this race competitive.
The surfacing of allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour was the issue that dogged him during the campaign. It made his principle opponent a contender in a state that the Democrats hadn’t won for decades.
Jones, who has never held office, but is well known in the state for his involvement in a high profile prosecution of Klansmen, was sneeringly described by President Trump as a liberal Democrat in a statement endorsing Moore.
This from a man who with every passing day reminds the Stephen King fans amongst us of the megalomaniac politician, Greg Stillson, from the Dead Zone.
That said these days most Republicans are pretty scary.
You have to go back a long way to find a GOP liberal of the Rockerfeller variety.
The party of Lincoln is now a grotesque beast railing in a reactionary manner against imaginary enemies, both foreign and domestic.
The good news is that Jones has won and the voters of Alabama have a Senator they can be proud of.
It is often said in jest that America is still fighting the Civil War. At the start of that terrible conflict, Lincoln spoke of his hope that the nation would in future be ‘touched by the better angels of our nature.’
The result in Alabama reminded me of that quote. Maybe the tide is turning and the liberals are on their way back across the pond.
Whatever comes next, we should be cheered by the fact that Mr Jones is going to Washington.
* David Warren is a lifetime political activist for progressive causes and a liberal.
