Mitt Romney today announced the endorsement of Robert Wolgemuth, an evangelical best-selling author and former chairman of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. God-o-Meter wonders how many other evangelical endorsements the Romney camp has in its pocket to announce in the week leading up to the Iowa caucuses–and whether they’ll actually sway any evangelical voters. Wolgemuth’s statement:
“Governor Romney has demonstrated that he is the one candidate in both parties who can represent the three pillars of the Reagan coalition – a strong military, a strong economy and stronger families. Most importantly, he has laid out a vision for strengthening American families through championing a Federal Marriage Amendment and defending the sanctity of human life. Governor Romney has the experience, vision and personal values to lead our county as we face ongoing and new domestic and global challenges, and I am proud to support his candidacy.”
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posted December 29, 2007 at 11:45 am
For conservatives, it is about prevailing. Ideology only works when it has influence plus the power to implement. Huckabee represents the short term ability to generate influence but in the long run, he will be kicked to the curb by the more powerful democrat candidate. The bottom line is, Evangelicals are not widely represented in the national electorate. They have become the lightening rod for the secular elements in this country. In short, Huckabee can’t win even if he gets the nomination.
For the rest of Republicans in the country, Iowa represents a stumbling block rather than a leg up. If they go with Huckabee it surely puts a dent in Romney’s candidacy. Evangelicals may very well answer the call to go “God” first and reject Romney. “God’s candidate” notion may even work in South Carolina. But other than those two states, it will be someone else. Will it be Romney or McCain? The smart money thinks it will be one of the two. But it sure won’t be Huckabee and his anti-Mormon league. That only works for people who want to be right first and effective second.