The Daily 202: In Alabama Senate debate, a noun, a verb and Donald Trump

By James Hohmann September 22 at 7:12 AM

With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve

THE BIG IDEA: If you took a shot of liquor every time Luther Strange name-dropped the president during a televised debate last night, you’d probably be too hammered to attend Donald Trump’s rally for him in Huntsville later today. Heck, depending on your tolerance, you might still be too hung over to go vote next Tuesday in the GOP runoff.

The senator, who was appointed to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions, doesn’t just want to ride Trump’s coattails to a come-from-behind victory against former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore. The 64-year-old is gambling his political future on being able to successfully play the Trump card.

At a venue down the road from the state capitol in Montgomery, Strange hyped up what he described as a “close personal friendship” with Trump. He repeatedly said that the two have “bonded” and made sure to mention that he spoke with the president on the phone for half an hour just the night before. “Think how much the president gets attacked every day,” Strange said at one point. “Good lord. We actually have the kind of relationship where we can laugh about that!”
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James Hohmann is a national political correspondent for The Washington Post. Follow @JamesHohmann