McConnell Will 'Let the People of Alabama' Decide

Mitch McConnell is now saying voters in Alabama should decide if they want Republican candidate Roy Moore to be their new senator, Politico reports. Appearing on ABC's This Week, the Republican Senate majority leader said, "I'm going to let the people of Alabama make the call" when they vote in the special election Dec. 12. This is a shift for McConnell, who initially said Moore should drop out of the race after several women accused him of making sexual advances when they were teenagers, one as young as 14. "The ethics committee will have to consider the matters that have been litigated in the campaign should that particular candidate win," McConnell said.

The majority leader's comments come two days after the Senate voted to approve a massive tax overhaul and on the same day the results of a CBS News poll were released showing Moore with a six-point lead over Democrat Doug Jones. That same poll shows that 71% of Republicans in Alabama don't believe the accusations against Moore, Mediaite reports. A Washington Post poll released yesterday shows Jones with a three-point lead, with 53% of voters saying Jones has higher moral standards than Moore. (More Roy Moore stories.)