Reply #25: Palin And The Enduring Christian Right

[Octafish]

Chip Berlet's pegged the issue:

Palin And The Enduring Christian Right

Chip Berlet
Huffington Post

What McCain is attempting to do by selecting Palin is to close the God Gap by solidifying the base of the Republican Party in the Christian Right, while at the same time appealing to a broader base of White Christian evangelicals. And Palin will appear quite mainstream to most moderate Republicans and independents.

McCain was considering Romney and Huckabee as ways to woo the Christian Right, but Romney was coming across as too slick and elitist, and was still being dragged down by antipathy among some Christian evangelicals for his being a Mormon.

Last February, I wrote here: “Huckabee Fails to Keep Southern Evangelical Base United.” So while many in the Christian Right voted for Huckabee in those southern primaries, not enough other White evangelicals voted for Huckabee. In other words, Huckabee would scare away too many moderate Republicans and not attract enough of the White Christian evangelical base outside the Christian Right.

Remember, the Christian Right is only 15% of the electorate, but it votes overwhelmingly Republican with little change over the last 30 years. One study found that 40 percent of the total vote for Bush in 2000 came from Christian Evangelicals, making it the largest single voting bloc in the Republican Party.

But some White Christian evangelicals are swing voters. Palin will be attractive to this constituency where Huckabee and Romney failed.

CONTINUED...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chip-berlet/palin-and-the-enduring-ch_b_122524.html

Most importantly: Thank you, bobthedrummer. You have no idea how much you giving a damn means to me. I think I would've quit this game a long time ago without you and a number of good DUers.