Wayne Slater provides some more details to the Politico story about religious right heavyweights gathering in Texas to coalesce around an anti-Romney. “The goal is to come together around somebody who will carry our issues and won’t abandon those issues when he becomes president,” Slater’s source tells him.
I recall religious right powerbrokers gathered for a very similar meeting in 2008, when they were not only looking for an anti-Romney, but an anti-McCain as well. Mike Huckabee, for many of them, was not an ideal candidate, although their failure to coalesce around him led to some gnashing of teeth and shedding of tears when McCain became the nominee. Take note: McCain benefitted from the splitting of the evangelical vote in South Carolina, a phenomenon that could work to Romney’s advantage this time around.
The fascinating thing about the upcoming Texas meeting is that many of the same players tried playing this game last summer, and came up with Rick Perry. Those meetings, incidentally, led to his big prayer rally The Response, held a week before he announced his candidacy (in South Carolina) and gave him his big boost, which he quickly squandered by turning in the most embarrassing performances in the history of recorded debates. Don Wildmon, whose American Family Association bankrolled The Response, turned around and endorsed Newt Gingrich before the Iowa caucuses, which shows, I suppose, the greater influence of a local powerbroker— Bob Vander Plaats, who endorsed Santorum.
While these leaders could cycle back to Perry, I seriously doubt that will be the result. If there’s anything that evangelicals truly hate, it’s the stereotype that they’re not ready for prime time. But the reality is they are running out of choices, coming down to either Gingrich or Santorum. If an endorsement of either man arrived, that would mark the first time the religious right establishment coalesced around a Catholic. Gingrich enjoys their admiration for his longstanding opposition to church-state separation and affection for the Christian nation mythology, laid out in his Rediscovering God in America tour. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like some religious conservatives might overlook his checkered marital history, but coming out of Iowa, he is now on the downward trajectory of his surge. As for Santorum, I’m sure they find nothing objectionable in his views on abortion and marriage. On foreign policy, there’s no daylight between the two, both being fans of and enthusiastic participants in the Islamophobia industrial complex.
If I were the betting sort, I’d wager that no concrete endorsement will come out of this, and there will be regrets afterwards. Those regrets were assuaged in 2008 with the selection of Sarah Palin. If Romney ends up being the nominee, which he in all likelihood will, the pressure will be on to come up with a similarly thrilling (for the religious right) running mate.
