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12/11/2017 07:57 AM EDT


By Heather Caygle (hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope)

ALL EYES ON BAMA - Roy Moore and Doug Jones are making their final pitch to voters ahead of tomorrow's contentious special election. Jones was out on the campaign trail all weekend, appearing with prominent African-American politicians including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in an effort to energize black voters. Moore, who hasn't held a public event since last Tuesday, was nowhere to be seen. Two Republican sources said Moore had planned to attend the Army-Navy football game up in Philadelphia this weekend but his campaign refused to disclose Moore's whereabouts, Alex Isenstadt and Gabriel Debenedetti report.

Where's Roy Moore? Moore will hold another rally with Steve Bannon (with a special appearance by Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert) tonight in south Alabama. AL.com: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a097706771578ff0bc7ba7a647d36cc432289f7aa9d31f7197b93cee3fe39402c3d291ac1ff8f9cef93e56

Alabama 'deserves better': Sen. Richard Shelby made a rare appearance on TV yesterday to bash Roy Moore. "The state of Alabama deserves better," Shelby said on CNN. "There's a time, we call it a tipping point, and I think so many accusations, so many cuts, so many drip, drip, drip, when it got to the 14-year-old story, that was enough for me. I said, I can't vote for Roy Moore." Shelby, the last Democrat elected to the Senate in Alabama (before he switched to the GOP in 1994), has been a prominent face in state politics for 40 years and has considerable sway among the state's establishment wing.

'Use Roy Moore like George Wallace': The Jones campaign has deluged African American radio stations with ads and plans to text black voters encouraging them to cast a ballot tomorrow, the New York Times reports. Former President Barack Obama taped a call in favor of Jones but his campaign was still considering whether to use it Sunday night, given Obama's unpopularity among the state's GOP-leaning white voters. And some black voters say they're as motivated to vote against Moore as anything else. "We are going to use Roy Moore just like we used to use George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door," one voter said. Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a097701e07f4802f772cdeeb2e4bd21a6466137ef3d464d07f71fcc8eef334953c2ed77312928d8a8d8ec5

'How Trump came around to an accused child molester': Trump, who endorsed Moore in a campaign rally Friday and recorded a robocall for the controversial candidate, has repeatedly questioned the motivations of the several women who say Moore sexually pursued or molested them as teenagers. Trump's sentiment has left straight-laced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) aghast but has given Moore's campaign new life and offers the president a chance to claim credit if Moore ekes out a win. Eliana Johnson and Alex Isenstadt: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a097705cd5df49879abe8c5c636c66153051f14d019daa740d098817def58454e1a7f86ae0ed9d1c96c89d

Related news: "Why Democrats win even if they lose in Alabama," from Edward-Isaac Dovere; "Bitter race tests Alabama's image in the country - and at home," via the Washington Post's Robert Costa and Michael Scherer; "Roy Moore's Alabama," via Howell Raines; and "Conservatives should consider Shelby's example," from the AL.com (aka the Birmingham News) editorial board.

WELCOME TO ANOTHER WILD WEEK. BUCKLE UP. Thanks for reading Huddle on this Monday, Dec. 11, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.

FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Tamar Hallerman's story about Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) skipping the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum because Trump was attending.

LET'S TALK A LITTLE TAX - The House will not vote this week on a final tax bill, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said late last week. Still, negotiators are working furiously behind the scenes to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions, hoping to send something to the president's desk before Christmas break. The tax conference committee will officially meet publicly for this first time on Wednesday, but that is mostly for show.

Problems? What problems? Republicans' warp speed leaves the tax bill "vulnerable to the types of expensive problems popping up in their massive and complex plan," Erica Werner reports. "Questionable special-interest provisions have been stuffed in along the way, out of public view and in some cases literally in the dead of night. Drafting errors by exhausted staff are cropping up and need fixes... And the melding process underway has opened the door to another frenzy of 11th-hour lobbying [by] special interests, including President Trump's rich friends." The Washington Post: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a09770df67d82deac9f62544986143b5b540e92b569365b839de1378b053aac574072d612ec63216cfdc32

Don't forget: Congressional leaders are also working behind the scenes to hammer out a deal on spending caps and a long-term funding bill before the new Dec. 22 deadline.

GOP DECLARES WAR ON THE ABA - Senate Republicans are looking to sideline the American Bar Association, saying the venerable legal organization, which has played a critical role in assessing judicial nominees since 1953, is a major stumbling block to Trump's effort to transform the courts. "The ABA has deemed at least four of Trump's judicial nominees 'not qualified; - a high number, although other administrations had the ABA evaluate candidates privately before they were nominated," Seung Min and Bres report.

"As the Senate prepares this week to confirm one appellate nominee that the ABA said was not qualified for the bench, Republicans are instead ratcheting up their attacks to try to discredit the century-old group," they write. The Senate starts tonight with a procedural vote on the nomination of Leonard Steven Grasz, "one of just two nominees unanimously deemed 'not qualified' by the ABA since 1989 due to concerns about his temperament." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a09770286ec4034164eb2ffe0b19df39a5cf87fdce71425aa2811b56bc6a5b1cad8378ad021651a73efb2a

FAMILY FEUD - The race to replace Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) is shaping up to be a nasty and long battle, even after Conyers endorsed his son, John Conyers III, when announcing his resignation last week due to sexual harassment allegations. His son still hasn't said if he's actually running while Conyers' nephew, state Sen. Ian Conyers, and other candidates are already declaring their bids for a seat that hasn't been open in more than 50 years.

And they've got a long way to go until Election Day: "Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, announced Friday he would leave Conyers's seat vacant until the already-scheduled November 2018 election 'to reduce the financial burden on local taxpayers,'" Steve Friess reports for the Washington Post. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a0977000991a604e5131f3433f2968560883bd780274ab9f3f6dcaace8101acbfc01ba41a29485a997c916

PAWS UP FOR A PUP PARTY - Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas) are sponsoring a "howliday party" this afternoon for all Capitol Hill pups and their owners. Pups are encouraged to come to the bipawtisan shindig dressed in their holiday best. The party starts at 5:45 p.m. in Rayburn 2203. More details: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a09770f3485ff1ccc0f9da0b8005c5d7009db8c9302b9e93b170642fd2b742933c2032ca1129721f94cc83

REPUBLICANS TAKE AIM AT FARENTHOLD - Five Republicans have qualified to challenge Rep. Blake Farenthold in the last couple of weeks after reports he used a taxpayer funded account to settle a sexual harassment claim in 2014. "Four of those five candidates have filed since Monday when Farenthold promised to repay $84,000 in taxpayer dollars to settle with the former aide who sued him for sexual harassment in 2014," Jeremy Wallace reports for the Houston Chronicle. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a09770a0ee9d6ceb04029916ce636fa9a2f5eea74cc953fae6f8409f31e783c2e6c1dd21c4a4423dd4aebf

Related: Farenthold's office hired a team of investigators to look into staffers' complaints about gender discrimination and "inappropriate sexualized commentary" in 2016. Marianne Levine and Maggie Severns report: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a097704fd19b62b68d5aafbfd1110dc1d0d30ec718dc0756f21a7f995ea2a7af9571eff3c77213acabe14c


FRANKS RESIGNS IMMEDIATELY - Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) announced he was resigning from office immediately on Friday, shortly before POLITICO broke news about allegations that he made unwanted advances toward female staffers in his office. Before the latest story broke, Franks had originally planned to resign at the end of January. "The sources said Franks approached two female staffers about acting as a potential surrogate for him and his wife," Rachael and Jake report. "But the aides were concerned that Franks was asking to have sexual relations with them." Franks reportedly offered one staffer $5 million to carry his child, according to the AP.

And: "A former staffer also alleged that Franks tried to persuade a female aide that they were in love by having her read an article that described how a person knows they're in love with someone, the sources said. One woman believed she was the subject of retribution after rebuffing Franks." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a097702708884101d839076b44bbf66f24a3a9fdfe7a77f38bb38406fa0bc6f3596da38b2a0ddc04343b70

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House meets at 12 p.m. with votes on several noncontroversial bills at 6:30 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3138ac06d3a09770607e90119ae95a501911b84144279b670202ca9466bd2f9e7c403e521c9606f223be69c8be970aab The Senate meets at 4 p.m. with a procedural vote at 5:30 p.m. related to the Grasz nomination.

DEBATE NIGHT IN VEGAS! Susan Glasser, POLITICO's Chief International Affairs Correspondent & host of the Global POLITICO podcast, will moderate a debate focused on the changing role of America's military, convened by the Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy program and the Charles Koch Institute.

General John Allen and Mara Karlin will face off against Michael Desch and Eugene Gholz from the University of Notre Dame to debate what the military of the future needs to look like to successfully confront the evolving global threats of the 21st century. Monday Dec 11, 2017 - Doors open 6:30 p.m. PT - Greenspun Hall Auditorium, UNLV. Follow along on Twitter via #AmericaInTheWorld and watch the livestream on POLITICO.

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - John Sullivan was first to correctly guess that Jan. 1861 is when the most senators resigned in one month, with seven senators withdrawing to join the Confederacy and one, Hannibal Hamlin, leaving to become vice president.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - What is the shortest term a senator has ever served? Name the senator and his/her length of service. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: hcaygle@politico.com.

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