Moore in a video presentation at a church in 2003 during controversy over Ten Commandments monument. (Getty)
Republican
Roy Moore, a conservative activist known for his former role as Alabama's "Ten Commandments" judge, says he is very "inclined" to join the 2010 race for the state's open governor's seat.
Moore, who discussed his possible candidacy in an interview with the Associated Press, now heads Foundation for Moral Law, a conservative group with a central focus of religion in public life. He would be seeking to succeed a political rival, term-limited Republican Bob Riley, to whom he badly lost the 2006 Republican primary for governor.
Moore had been an elected chief justice of the state Supreme Court. But he was ousted from the post by a state court panel in 2003, after he ignored a federal court ruling ordering the removal of a granite momunent to the biblical Ten Commandments that he had installed in the state Supreme Court building two years earlier.
Despite a groundswell of support among conservative activists, Moore only managed about 33 percent of the vote in losing the 2006 primary to Riley. The incumbent went on to easily win the general election that November to claim his second term.
Moore refused to take money from political action committees (PACs) during that primary, making it difficult to even contest the incumbent's fundraising ability.
Moore told the Associated Press last week, while discussing his possible 2010 candidacy, that he would take PAC money this go-around unless "it's something that I can't at all agree with."
Tim James, a businessman and son of former Alabama Gov. Fob James, is the party's only official candidate so far, according to the state Republican Party. Others rumored to be interested include state Rep. Robert Bentley, Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman, state Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard, and state Treasurer Kay Ivey.
U.S. Rep. Artur Davis and state Commissioner of Agriculture Ron Sparks are in the contest for the Democratic nomination, with state Sen. Roger Bedford Jr. considering the race.
-- Annie Johnson
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