If elections were held today, according to a new poll, Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments judge, would beat a sitting Republican governor, might squeak past a sitting Republican senator -- and would not do badly against the president of the United States. The Mobile Register reports:

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Tuscaloosa who has served three terms, is up for re-election next year....

The poll found the two men in a dead heat, with Moore garnering 42 percent and Shelby receiving 40 percent....

Moore would beat Republican Gov. Bob Riley in the 2006 race, according to a previous Register-USA poll conducted in the second week of November.

But state residents apparently don't feel as strongly about putting the former chief justice in the White House, particularly if it means replacing President Bush. Poll respondents last week gave Bush a 24-point lead over Moore in a head-to-head presidential matchup....

I'd like to see the numbers on that poll regarding the presidency, but think about it: If they're say, 58% - 34% in favor of Bush, with 8% undecided, that means a third of the Alabama electorate would be willing, right now, to dump the Bible-waving Scourge of Evildoers in favor of Moore. And if the numbers are, say, 40% - 16%, with 44% undecided, that means a majority of Alabamans either would dump Bush or don't know for sure that they wouldn't.

If Moore does that well even with Bush in the race, how would he do in '08 without Bush?

The Register story notes that "78 percent of those surveyed last week in Alabama identified themselves as 'born-again Christians'"; probably not at all coincidentally, 78% of those surveyed approve of Moore's installation of the big commandments rock, as an AP story on the poll notes:

Asked if they approved or disapproved of Moore's installation of the monument in the rotunda of the state courthouse, 35 percent said they approved strongly, 43 percent approved, 9 percent disapproved, 9 percent disapproved strongly and 4 percent didnt know or had no answer.

The Register notes that poll respondents disapprove of his removal from office, and a majority don't mind at all that he willfully defied the law:

More than 60 percent of those responding to last week's Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll said they disapproved of Moore's ouster....

His support dropped, however, when respondents were asked whether they believed he should have obeyed the federal judge. Fifty-one percent supported Moore's defiance of the order.

Incidentally, for 89 bucks you can buy your own Roy Moore rock (this one is much smaller, though it is granite). Note the disclaimer: "75% of profits donated to religious institutions that defend the ten commandments." That means $22.25 from each rock goes straight into someone's pocket. Hey, it beats working.