The Christian Right on the 2008 Presidential Election
May 27, 2008
A few tidbits that drifted through my reader today:
- Christianists are having a hard time accepting John McCain as the Republican party’s presumptive nominee, especially with the rumors that he might select Florida’s moderate, unmarried governor Charlie Crist as his running mate.
- Experts think that Ellen DeGeneres may have a unique impact on the California marriage debate. “Because of her likeability, a lot of viewers feel like they know her,” says Jim Key, chief public affairs officer for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. “She is like a friend. People who know her want her to have the same rights as everyone else.” Ellen sure made a difference for me ten years ago when she came out on the cover of Time. I carried the cover of that magazine around in the clear plastic sleeve of my binder for the rest of the year. It’s how I came out at school.
- Meanwhile, prominent evangelical leaders like Mike Huckabee are raising points that might put some Christians in bed with the Democrats rather than the Republicans. Social liberalism anyone?
Does anyone else think that this spells limited evangelical support for McCain in the fall? Might Democrats take the upper hand with this group given their dissatisfaction with McCain, more mainstream acceptance of gays and lesbians and Obama’s wonderful ability to speak to people of faith?
We can only hope. We really have no Idea how all of our prejudice and assumptions will play out in the fall. The way it does play will reveal much.
I don’t think Obama will make meaningful inroads with the Religious Right. The best he can hope for is that they stay home, unlike 2004. I haven’t heard a lot about wedge initiatives like anti-gay marriage amendments, so I suspect it will turn on whether McCain and downticket candidates can find some way to scare them into showing up.
i agree with derek. i don’t think huckabee’s comment will drive the hard core right over to democrat territory, if it does anything, maybe it would drive more moderate conservatives toward the middle. i think the gov. crist article makes some good points though, the independent vote will really help mccain, though it’s really difficult to imagine the evangelicals and hard right would sit on their hands on election day. i would think they’d still prefer to see a republican who seems soft on their important social issues in the white house than a democrat who definitely makes a stand in opposition to their social issues, anne coulter’s protest be damned.