1069

Fractured, debt-ridden Christian Coalition hopes to resurrect political clout

The Associated Press, March 08, 2007

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- An important ally when George W. Bush first won the presidency, the Christian Coalition of America says it's poised again to help a conservative win the White House. Whether it can back up that pledge is an open question.

In the seven years since Bush beat John McCain en route to the Republican nomination, the coalition has spiraled into debt and its leadership has fractured. The coalition is trying to resurrect its once-vaunted influence at a time when religious conservatives are struggling to find an acceptable candidate among the leading contenders for the 2008 Republican nomination.

"Bush was just a darling, I think, of the religious right. But I think that this is going to be a different election because you don't have a George Bush running,'' said Roberta Combs, president of the South Carolina-based group that claims a mailing list of 2 million members and sends weekly e-mail blasts to 1 million potential voters.

Among the leading GOP contenders, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani favors abortion rights and domestic partnerships for gays and has a messy marital history. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Mormon faith and shifting positions on social issues have raised eyebrows of Christian fundamentalists.

And Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose loss to Bush in 2000 was helped along by the coalition after he called TV preachers Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance,'' is viewed skeptically by many religious conservatives.

Even by its own admission, the coalition, which was founded by Robertson and which for years served as a key ally for conservative candidates, faces a changed landscape. Scads of other conservative Christian organizations concerned with many of the same issues, with opposition to abortion and gay marriage at the top of the list, now vie for candidate attention and may offer endorsements.

With no overarching conservative Christian group anointing a candidate, this season's GOP primary process is "much more open, much more decentralized and, frankly, much more complicated,'' said John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Institute's Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Robertson launched the coalition as he ran for the White House in 1988. While his candidacy for the Republican nomination faltered, religious conservatives were emboldened to demand a greater voice in the GOP. Led by its charismatic and politically shrewd executive director, Ralph Reed, the coalition gained influence in the early 1990s.

After Reed stepped down in 1997 to court Christian conservative voters for Bush's 2000 campaign, that influence began to wane. In 2001, Robertson severed ties with the coalition to concentrate on his ministry.

Randall Balmer, a religion and politics expert at Barnard College, said that when Reed left the coalition, "they lost their best strategist.''

Add to that a whiff of impropriety stemming from Reed's ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and it shows that once-powerful Christian conservative personalities "are not the kind of moral avatars that they claim to be,'' Balmer said. "The religious right is simply collapsing beneath its own weight.''

Money also has been a problem. Records show the coalition had $17,498 in cash and $1.7 million in debt at the end of 2005 after raising $2.3 million. A year earlier, it had $150,921 in cash and debt of $2.2 million, with only $1.1 million donated.

"The organization is a shell of what it used to be and on the verge of going under completely,'' said Bill Moore, a political scientist at the College of Charleston.

During the past year, leaders of the coalition's branches in Georgia, Alabama, Iowa and Ohio have bolted for a variety of reasons.

>snip<

Combs and McKissick also say Christian conservatives are no longer simply seeking a place in the debate -- now, they're in leadership roles.

But some Christian conservatives say the coalition has lost influence because it hasn't been aggressive enough in demanding that candidates oppose abortion.

"The Republican Party comes along every four years and whispers in our ears and, when the election is over, tells us to go away and to not bother them,'' said Mark Crutcher, founder and president of Life Dynamics, a Texas-based anti-abortion group who called the coalition "a functionary of the Republican Party.''

Crutcher said he expects to be "stabbed in the chest'' by Democrats, but it's getting "stabbed in the back by Republicans'' that really angers him.

Combs, meanwhile, says the coalition is planning to help its members decide whom to elect by publishing the coalition's influential voters guides that were sent to 70 million people in 2000. Fewer will be printed this time, but they will be supplemented by e-mail and a revamped Web site the coalition is about to launch.

"I guarantee you, " Combs said, "when the primary comes around and we distribute millions of voter guides, we'll be a factor.''

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What say you?
Has the Christian Coalition become politically insignificant, or do they still have clout?

__________________
Lightdemon: "Is 10 going to outer space or something?"
Jerry: "...yes, 10 is going to outerspace."

Korimyr the Rat

They haven't really lost power. The organization itself is decentralizing, but the people behind it-- and the public sympathies they command-- are as real and as powerful as ever.

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jfuh

Such organizations are a complete and total slap across the face of religious freedom.
You're purpose is to get a christian into office simply because they're christian? So maybe muslim groups should do the same?
Sorry, leaders should be in office not because of what religious affiliation they have, but whether or not they have the merits to lead. SO you got your "evangelical" Bush in office, what single "christian" act has he done? Not a single one. Christ the pacifist, bush the war monger.
There can be no religious freedom unless you have freedom from religion. It goes hand in hand.

__________________
The facts and science of the theory of anthropogenic Global warming

1069

Uh... vetoed federal funding for stem cell research?
Initiated a preemptive war against the Infidel?
I dunno.
I s'pose it depends upon you definition of "Christian".
To me, most of Bush's beliefs and actions seem pretty much in line with Bible-based Christianity.

jfuh

Nothing of what the Amish would do. To me, they are the only remaining true christians in this nation. Everyone else has cherry picked the bible for their own purposes.
Stem cells - hmmmm I want to give that to you but then I thought, Christians don't celebrate conception day, they celebrate birth day.

OKgrannie

Cutting government services for the poor and veterans wouldn't be based on Bible teachings, neither is initiating war. Haven't seen anything in the Bible about stem cell research, nor about abortion. Using the power of government to enrich your family and friends wouldn't be Biblically based.

The Christian Coalition, their members are also members of Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the Eagle Forum, The Family Research Council, and others, will be a force within the Republican party, in many states they control the Republican party.

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The greatest danger to liberty lurks in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.---Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

VTA

Nicely put and sadly true.

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-VTA

nes

As for cherry picking your referring to different interpretations of quotes in the bible. I am aware of this, one of the things about the bible is that there is figurative language and some verses are linked to other verses so it becomes hard to try to get the real meaning of each verse. What I don't like is when people interpret verses in a way to fit their personal beliefs. For example, before I thought circumcision was bad / unnecessary, after reading verses in the bible and thinking about it, I now think it is a procedure that is acceptable.

Christians and others don't celebrate conception day since nearly all people don't know exactly when a conception occurred. I don't see many verses in the bible for people to celebrate birth day. I've also noticed that in the bible it says for after 6 days of work take one day off, that day off doesn't have to be a particular day (Saturday, Sunday).

Red_Dave

loving your neighboor as yourself? giving your money to poor? havent seen much of that from Bush have we?

1069

Well, to be honest, I haven't seen much of that from any Christians.
But possibly it does occur, and I'm simply unaware that the people doing it are "Christians".
Perhaps the Christians that do such things are not the ones who feel the need to proclaim- loudly, frequently, and to all and sundry- that they are Christians.
Because the Christians I'm more familiar with- the ones who have been pursuing me, harrassing me, and annoying me for the better portion of my life- certainly seem to feel the need to identify themselves, publicly and interminably, as "Christians".
That's the type of Christian I assumed Bush was; I assume he is representative of their beliefs and values, seeing as how they elected him twice.