XPost: az.general
From: michelle@michelle.org
If the religious right really doesn't have an influence, John McCain
wouldn't be trying to pander to them.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- To forgive is divine. To forget may be asking too
much of religious conservatives when it comes to Sen. John McCain.
The Republican presidential hopeful is working hard to repair relations
with conservative Christian activists, whose support could be critical
to winning the GOP nomination. But they remain skeptical that he
sincerely shares their values.
While McCain has managed to pry open some of the doors that slammed shut
in his rift with the right during his bid for the presidency in 2000,
conservatives' list of grievances against the Arizona senator is
substantial:
€ They are dubious about his opposition to a federal amendment to ban
gay marriage. McCain opposes same-sex marriage, but says it should be
regulated by the states.
€ They still resent passages in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance
law, which Christian broadcasters say limit what they can tell voters
before elections.
€ And they question the sincerity of his overtures. McCain condemned
evangelist leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of
intolerance" during his 2000 run.
McCain a 'stumbling block'
Christian leaders still have "a lot of questions" about McCain, said
Paul Weyrich, who founded the Moral Majority with Falwell and pioneered
efforts to mobilize evangelical voters.
McCain-Feingold "is a big stumbling block for all of us," Weyrich said.
He and others also say McCain, a four-term senator, largely ignored a
measure on the November ballot to ban gay marriage in his home state,
though he did endorse it in a TV ad. Arizona was the only state where
the effort failed in the last election.
"It seems to me that if he were really sincere, he would have gone in
with both feet and supported that amendment," Weyrich said.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson was more blunt.
"I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," Dobson said
last month on KCBI, a Dallas Christian radio station. "I pray that we
won't get stuck with him."
McCain is trying hard to avoid a repeat of the 2000 GOP presidential
primaries in which now-President Bush mobilized Christian conservative
activists to ultimately sink McCain's campaign. Prominent Christian
leaders, including Robertson and Falwell, opposed McCain in 2000, partly
because they didn't feel he was conservative enough on their issues.
"We've continued to reach out to leaders in these very important states
and communicate the senator's record of advocacy for conservative
causes," said Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the McCain campaign. "What
we've seen is a strong response and support."
Past criticism casts shadow
Contributing to McCain's strained relations with religious conservatives
was his past criticism of the fundamentalist Christian college Bob Jones
University in Greenville, South Carolina, for its ban on interracial
dating. Political activists associated with the university helped defeat
McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary.
The school has since lifted the ban. McCain now says he wouldn't turn
down an opportunity to speak there.
He also has hired David Rexrode, a veteran campaigner who organized
evangelical voters for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004, to help repair
the damage.
McCain has made amends with Falwell. He spoke at Falwell's Liberty
University last spring. On Monday, Falwell and five other religious
leaders will host a "meet and greet" for McCain at the National
Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando, Florida -- a big step,
though Falwell has been careful to say it does not constitute an
endorsement.
But other efforts aren't going as smoothly.
McCain has said he hopes to patch things up with Dobson, but Diaz
wouldn't say whether Dobson and McCain have spoken. Dobson declined a
request for an interview and a Focus on the Family spokesman said Dobson
had nothing more to say about McCain.
Robertson also declined to discuss McCain.
McCain's seeming about-face with the Christian right also has drawn
criticism from Democrats and eroded his image that appealed to swing
voters in 2000.
In McCain's home state, Rep. Trent Franks -- a staunch opponent of
abortion and gay marriage -- has split with the rest of the Republicans
in the Arizona congressional delegation, refusing to back the senator's
presidential bid. Instead, he's supporting a long-shot GOP candidate,
Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, whom he calls an "unequivocal social
and fiscal conservative."
Other conservatives could save McCain
But McCain has at least one thing going for him with the religious
right: Christian leaders also are wary of the other leading GOP
presidential hopefuls, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani supports abortion rights and gay rights. Romney has supported
both in the past, though he now opposes abortion and gay marriage.
With no clear social conservative among the top-tier candidates,
conservative religious leaders like the Iowa Christian Alliance's Steve
Scheffler say they are now willing to at least give McCain a chance to
explain himself.
That's a turnabout from last April, when Scheffler told The Associated
Press, "There's no support for McCain in this constituency."
Since then, McCain has "made overtures to talk about his record,"
Scheffler said in a recent interview. "In many cases, he has a record
conservatives would feel comfortable with."
Rexrode, McCain's organizer among Christian conservatives, said that's
the kind of sentiment he's working for.
Despite what Dobson and others have said, when McCain explains his
conservative record on abortion, the war in Iraq and federal spending,
"we're winning people hand over fist," Rexrode said.
"Being able to deliver that message and talk about it is really opening
some eyes about who the real Sen. McCain is," he said.
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