Alabama Senate election 2017: Fox & Friends and Moldova? Media pours in for Moore vs. Jones

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones addresses reporters on election day Dec. 12, 2017 after casting his ballot in Mountain Brook. (Erin Edgemon/eedgemon@al.com)

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" is in Mountain Brook. Fox & Friends founds its way to both Mobile and Huntsville. Moldova - a tiny Eastern European country- has a reporter in Alabama. And media from Spain are inquiring if you can find an Uber in Montgomery.

Welcome to Alabama's Senate race 2017.

The mega-watt high profile race between Roy Moore and Doug Jones has brought national and international attention to Alabama in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against Moore, the GOP nominee. In recent weeks, members of Alabama media, including representatives from AL.com, have appeared on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News and Fox Business News, as well as on Norwegian and Swedish stations. Radio interviews have been broadcast as far away as Japan, London and Spain, as well as nationally through NPR, Fox Radio and XM Satellite's POTUS radio.

So why all the interest? Nationally it comes down to numbers. Internationally, it comes down to scandal.

A Jones win would narrow the Republican margin in the Senate to 51-49, making it more difficult for the president to push through his agenda and allow no room for distention. That close margin swayed President Trump - who initially expressed reservations about Moore - to endorse the GOP nominee and push the message that Alabama cannot elect a "Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Democrat" in Doug Jones.

For the international press, the attraction is more sensational.

Here's how the BBC's Katty Kay described the attention on the race:

"Reporters would not normally fly to the Deep South to cover a mere US Senate race, especially one that should have been a straightforward Republican win in this conservative state.

Then again, you don't often get a candidate who believes homosexuality should be illegal, Muslims should be banned from serving in Congress and the last time America was great was when there was slavery.

That's the Republican, Roy Moore.

I deliberately omitted the sex allegations there because his record, even without serious claims of child molestation (which he denies), make him extreme, even by the standards of conservative, evangelical, Southern politicians.

The world's press probably would not have descended on Alabama for Tuesday's vote had it not been for the sexual harassment stories, but they should have done."

You can see video of some of the national media spots -  as well as how the race is being covered internationally - below.

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