Despite being ousted as Alabama’s chief justice for defying a federal order to remove his controversial 5,300-pound monument of the Ten Commandments inside the state’s judicial building, Moore quickly became one of the most popular figures in Alabama and an icon among religious conservatives. Supporters saw him as a possible candidate for governor, senator -- or even president.

Then came President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004, which was greatly aided by a wave of evangelical voters, a further sign of Moore’s political potential. Indeed, a poll from January of last year showed Moore leading Alabama's incumbent Republican Gov. Bob Riley, who had been wounded politically from his failed $1.2 billion tax increase of 2003.

Moore, a fellow Republican who believes that God is the ...