Newsletter: Essential Politics: The Alabama decision that’s got everyone on the edge of their seats

Let’s not beat around the bush: No matter where you live, the election of a new United States senator from Alabama on Tuesday will mark a significant moment for the politics of the nation.

And that’s saying something in a year in which there have been so many notable markers, almost too many to count.

Let’s begin with what it might mean for the Republican brand.

THE REPUBLICAN DILEMMA

Mark Z. Barabak sums it up nicely in his latest dispatch from Birmingham:

“Either voters will elect a Democratic U.S. senator from one of the most deeply conservative states in the country, slicing the GOP’s slender majority to a bare 51 to 49; or the Republican Party will seat Roy Moore, an accused sexual predator with a history of outlandish statements who, if Democrats have their way, will effectively serve as running mate for every Republican seeking office in 2018.”

Democrat Doug Jones would be an afterthought in the deep red state were it not for a month’s worth of troubling stories about Moore’s personal past. Even Alabama’s senior senator offered a viewpoint that could scarcely be imagined when talking about his party’s nominee.

“I think the Republican Party can do better,” Sen. Richard Shelby said on Sunday.

Moore, who ended last week by calling one of his accusers a liar over the inscription in her high school yearbook, called all of the allegations made against him a “ritual defamation” during an Alabama interview on Sunday. Then there were new questions about September comments on “when families were united — even though we had slavery.”

And President Trump’s role in the outcome — be it a boast or an excuse — will also be worth watching, after his Friday rally in support of Moore in nearby Pensacola, Fla.

Keep an eye on our Essential Washington news feed for the latest, and for updates once returns come in on Tuesday night.

LIGHTNING ROUND: NATIONAL POLITICS

-- The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Sunday that Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel was “courageous.”

-- That wasn’t how the nation’s European allies saw the decision, and they gave Secretary of State Rex Tillerson an earful about it.

-- The weekend was quieter than it could have been under a government shutdown, after Republicans in both houses passed a stopgap funding measure.

-- And with that crisis averted for the time being, Trump went back to demanding a wall on the Mexico border.

-- The president took to Twitter over the weekend to bash an error made by CNN on Friday, when the network wrongly reported that Donald Trump Jr. may have been notified about hacked emails obtained by Wikileaks before they were publicly released.

-- President Trump was in Mississippi on Saturday to attend the opening of a new civil rights museum as his presence sparked a boycott by lawmakers, civil rights icons and protesters who questioned his commitment to racial equality.

DABABNEH TO RESIGN AFTER ACCUSATIONS

Four days after a Sacramento lobbyist said Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills) was the lawmaker in a shocking allegation she made this fall about sexual misconduct, he announced that he will resign at the end of the month.

Dababneh maintained the accusations are false.

“As we battle for change, we must remember that due process exists for a reason,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “We should never fight injustice with injustice.”

Meanwhile, the attorney for the lobbyist who made the accusation wants the Assembly to detail how the investigation into her client’s sexual misconduct claim will be conducted.

POLITICAL ROAD MAP: WHAT’S IN A TITLE?

In my Political Road Map column, we take a closer look at one of the more hotly debated elements of any campaign — one that’s only three words long.

The ballot description a candidate uses can be the last (and in local races, the only) thing voters know about the person running for an office. Two hopefuls in the race for governor held powerful jobs in the past, but they can’t use those titles.

And some incumbents do everything they can not to be viewed as, gasp, a politician.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- “The planet is warming and all hell is breaking loose,” said Gov. Jerry Brown in a Sunday national TV interview before flying to Paris for a climate change event.

-- George Skelton takes the pulse of California’s two marquee contests for 2018, the races for governor and U.S. Senate, and finds five conclusions he sees as simple truths.

-- On this week’s California Politics Podcast, we discuss the selection of state Sen. Toni Atkins as the next leader of the Senate and dive deeper into the latest Sacramento news when it comes to the reckoning over sexual misconduct.

-- Just weeks before California begins issuing licenses to businesses to sell marijuana for recreational and medical use, the state on Friday began accepting applications electronically through an online system.

-- California’s landmark law to require new disclosure of prescription drug prices was challenged in federal court Friday, with the pharmaceutical industry accusing state officials of trying to “dictate” national healthcare policy.

-- GOP members in California got a lot of feedback from constituents and activists last week over the Republican tax proposal. Graduate students at UC Irvine met with Dave Min, a Democrat challenging Rep. Mimi Walters, to talk about how changes to deductions could affect them. Outside Rep. Ed Royce’s district office in Brea, protesters wore top hats and sported monocles to criticize the bill as a giveaway to the rich.

-- As California burns, Congress is planning to limit taxpayers’ ability to write off losses from future wildfires and other disasters. The disaster write-off is one of the many little-known deductions set to be mostly wiped out in the GOP tax plan, but it’s getting fresh attention because of the fires that have devastated parts of Southern California over the last week.

-- Treasurer John Chiang says if he’s elected governor, he’ll tackle the state’s housing affordability crisis by spending billions more on low-income development and offering greater financial incentives to cities that permit new building.

-- A liberal political group has waded into the 2018 primary early, endorsing challengers in four Republican-held congressional districts.

LOGISTICS

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john.myers@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter at @johnmyers and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast