Cons vs. mods

Ten Commandments judge (well, former judge) Roy Moore will announce his political plans Monday in Gadsden, Ala. Most expect Moore to run for governor in 2006, likely setting up a nasty Repoublican primary fight with incumbent governor Bob Riley, who will announce his plans on Oct. 8.

The infighting among Moore backers and more mainstream Alabama Republicans has already begun. It's no secret that Moore and his supporters feel betrayed by Riley and other GOP officeholders in Alabama. Once the then-Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Moore defied a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument, Riley, then-Attorney General William Pryor and others began to put some distance between Moore and themselves.

Riley's unsuccessful attempt in 2003 to reform Alabama's grossly unfair tax code has many on the right in his party upset. At the time, Washington anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist said he wanted Riley to become "the poster child for Republicans who go bad. I want every conservative Republican elected official in the United States to watch Bob Riley lose and learn from it."

Much like the moderate-conservative GOP divide described by Thomas Frank in "What's the Matter With Kansas," it looks like Alabama Republicans are preparing for an ideological fight pitting "mods" vs. "cons."