In the 1990s, the Christian Coalition would hold an annual event, called the “Road to Victory,” every October. Officially a “non-partisan” event hosted by a tax-exempt non-profit, the gatherings featured thousands of right-wing, vaguely-theocratic activists who came from across the country, expecting Republican officials and candidates to pledge their allegiance to the religious right’s cause.
The Christian Coalition, of course, collapsed a few years ago, but the annual tradition begins anew today. This time, it’s the Family Research Council, an offshoot of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family empire, hosting an event it calls the Values Voter Summit. And just as Republican presidential hopefuls used to beg for votes at Road to Victory, every single GOP candidate will be on hand in DC for this nutty gathering.
For months, Republican presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain have courted evangelical Christians, meeting with religious leaders throughout the Midwest and the South.
Today, thousands of Christian conservatives will gather in Washington to confront the fact that none of the candidates has won them over.
For Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.), the conference will be an opportunity to do what months of private meetings have failed to accomplish: become the consensus candidate for the evangelical movement, a key constituency of the Republican Party.
Chuck Colson, Watergate felon turned evangelical leader, told the WaPo, “At the moment, there’s nothing but confusion every place I go. They lament the fact that there’s no one candidate out there around whom evangelicals and conservative Catholics can sort of coalesce around and get excited about.” He added, “Nobody has rung the bell yet.”
The entire field, sans Sam Brownback, will be giving it their best shot, going to great lengths to show that they are just as unhinged and hostile to church-state separation as the 2,000 people in attendance.
A few things to watch for:
* Will Rudy Giuliani get booed? It’s unlikely — expect him to devote 95% of his speech to attacking Hillary Clinton.
* Will Mike Huckabee convince the religious right that he’s credible? As a Baptist minister, he’s got the chops, but it’s a politically savvy bunch. These guys value electability, and they know Huckabee doesn’t have any money.
* What will Ron Paul say? He’s the one GOP candidate who has made very little effort to endear himself to the religious right, in part because their agenda requires huge government interference with Americans’ lives, and Paul’s a libertarian. I’m curious about his pitch.
* Will any candidate try to Sister Souljah the religious right, the way John McCain did in 2000? Don’t count on it.
* Can Mitt Romney seal the deal? He’s been slowly picking up religious right endorsements over the last couple of weeks, as the movement sees him as the credible anti-Giuliani. But what can he say to completely win them over?
On that last point, we have some idea what to expect.
Mitt Romney plans to promise on Friday that as president he would convene a White House summit on ways to “strengthen the family, particularly in the inner city,” according to remarks released by his campaign.
That pledge bolsters Romney’s longtime vow that he and his wife, Ann, would make the reduction of out-of-wedlock births a focus of his administration. The agenda reflects an effort to tap into the changing priorities of religious conservatives. A CBS News poll of evangelicals released Thursday night found they were more concerned about poverty than abortion.
“It’s time to make out-of-wedlock births out-of-fashion again,” Romney’s text says.
Lovely.
Also note, there will be a Values Voter Summit straw poll at the end of the weekend, and some of the same leaders who last month explored a third-party option will meet again privately at this event.
Stay tuned.