Americans may be more religious than their peers in other Western countries, but they have their limits when it comes to …
evangelicals
How Rick Santorum’s Old-School Politicking Is Paying Off in Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Rick Santorum was a surprise hiding in plain sight. All year, as rivals peaked and plummeted and the glut of televised debates offered a national megaphone, Santorum ran a textbook local race, doggedly criss-crossing Iowa’s remote precincts in a pickup truck, meeting small clusters of voters to enumerate his merits. …
Why Rick Santorum Is No Social-Conservative Savior
With less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, it looks like the “come-from-way-behind Rick Santorum boomlet” I joked about a month ago could actually be a reality. And unlike many of the other candidate surges that have …
Evangelicals for Mitt? ‘Grassroots’ Group Has Close Ties to the Romney Campaign
Nancy and David French, a couple from Columbia, Tenn., are perhaps the most visible evangelical supporters of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. They started a group called Evangelicals for Mitt back in 2005. Both …
Why the Religious Right Can’t Seem to Get the Candidate It Wants
Was it just a month ago that religious conservatives were busy trying to stir up concerns about Mormonism and rally evangelicals behind Rick Perry? At the time, it looked like Perry’s slide in the polls could be reversed and his debate performances improved. Since then, however, his support has cratered–and if Perry can come back from …
Inside the Numbers: Why Romney Outperforms Perry Against Obama
After weeks of shaky debates and swirling questions about his record in Texas, it’s no surprise that Rick Perry is running behind Mitt Romney in head-to-head general election matchups against Barack Obama. Perry lags 12 points …
Will Evangelicals Doom Romney?
Mitt Romney 2.0 is an impressive candidate. While other Republicans have moved up and down in the polls, he has held the position of frontrunner for most of the past year and a half. Compared with the last presidential race, he’s …
Why Social Conservatives Met With Rick Perry Last Weekend
Back in May and before Rick Perry was considering a presidential run, a group of social conservative leaders approached the Lone Star governor. “One of our people wanted to take a look at him,” says Rapid City, S.D., furniture-store owner and conservative organizer Bob Fischer. “Perry became anxious to meet with us, the conservatives …
‘Best Governor We’ve Ever Had’: Evangelical Leader Rick Scarborough Backs Perry
Last weekend, Rick Perry privately met some 300 conservative evangelical leaders at long-time supporter Jim Leininger’s home near Fredricksburg, Texas. And on Monday afternoon, reported-attendee and evangelical leader Rick …
Who Will Attract Social Conservatives Now That Huck Is Off the Market?
Will the National Day of Prayer Hurt Obama?
Today is the National Day of Prayer, which by tradition is celebrated not with cake and balloons but with some attendant controversy. Just a few weeks ago, it looked as though the White House’s biggest problem regarding the day (first designated by Congress in 1952) was the fact that a federal judge ruled in April that the law directing …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Philo-Semitism Gone Amok
Mike Gerson and Ezra Klein are two of the more temperate partisans I know. Gerson is an evangelical conservative whose speeches sometimes managed to make George W. Bush look like he sorta knew what he was talking about; he was also among the rare Bushies who supported faith-based social programs because of the impact they made on the …
Evangelicals for Obama?
If this Barna poll of Evangelicals* is right, McCain has a LOT of work to do. From the poll’s synopsis:
1. Among likely voters, Sen. Obama holds a 50% to 35% lead over Sen. McCain.
2. There are relatively few undecided voters – just 15% of the registered voters who are likely to vote have not yet chosen a candidate to support. For Sen.
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