Moore is the GOP candidate for the Alabama Senate seat left empty by Jeff Sessions' ascent to U.S. Attorney General, that seat to be filled by a special election December 12th. When Moore was fighting the primary back in September I described him as "a gem of pure Americana."

Roy Moore won that primary, so he's been running, and polling well, against the Democrat, a colorless Leftist.

Then a woman showed up claiming Moore had fondled her in 1979, when he was 32 and she was 14. Three other women then emerged from the undergrowth claiming Moore had come on at them too thirty-something years ago, when they were aged 16, 17, and 18.

For goodness' sake! How hard is it for dirty-tricks operatives from the Democratic Party — or, just as likely, the GOP Establishment, who detest Moore — to organize a frame-up like this?

And even assuming these women are telling the truth — which I would by no means assume — why, after nigh-on forty years, should we care? Isn't there a statute of limitations on fondling? If there isn't, there ought to be: accepted standards on male-female exchanges were somewhat different back then.

I was around; I know this.

One Alabama state representative has suggested that if these women's stories are true, the women be prosecuted for letting a dangerous guy roam around free for forty years, when they could have brought charges against him.

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't fly in a court of law; but the guy has a point in that Roy Moore has been nationally famous since the early 1990s, when as a judge he hung a plaque of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. If these women had a beef against Moore, they've waited a suspiciously long time to air it.

A poll this week, after the accusations came out, showed Moore's support down but still competitive. Personally, I hope he stays the course, and I hope he wins in December.