Like Samson pulling down the temple on himself as well as the Philistines, social conservatives aren’t afraid of bringing down the whole Republican Party. Back in 1996, when moderate conservative Sen. Bob Dole carried the GOP presidential banner, many Christian-right voters didn’t bother to vote, and Dole was handily defeated. Unless the GOP heeds the Christian right, Wildmon warns, millions of evangelical voters may once again refuse to go to the polls next year. “It’s true we have nowhere else to go, except to stay home,” he says. But the message to Republicans, he adds, is clear: “We would rather go down on our principles. We lose? You lose!”

To ensure that Republicans get the message in 2008, the religious right is redoubling its efforts to mobilize its political machine — including tens of thousands of churches, hundreds of radio stations and two national television networks.

The Family Research Council, a leading lobby for the Christian right, is planning a huge expansion on the Internet, including videos and podcasts, to reach millions in next year’s election. “We want to be sure that the lessons of the last election have been learned, and that the Republicans understand that we are not a lock for the GOP,” says Charmaine Yoest, the council’s vice president of communications. “When you’re looking at razor-thin margins, you better pay attention to your base.”

The group fired an early shot across the GOP’s bow in January, when it delivered a videotaped response to President Bush’s State of the Union speech. “The president failed to draw a line in the sand on behalf of life,” charged Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. “What will become of the culture of life, of the defense of marriage?” The council displayed a chart on which it noted the number of times the president mentioned the Christian right’s core issues: marriage, 0; abortion, 0; stem cells, 0; cloning, 0; abstinence, 0; and values, 0. Robert Dreyfuss - Rolling Stone

Family Research Council