Remember that the Christian Coalition was responsible for getting Reagan elected. Were it not for them Reagan would have been just another governor who tried for the White House. The establishment GOP via the RNC did NOT want Reagan. The same crowd that still runs the RNC to this day.
I would not be so dismissive of these people. Crackpots or not, all politics, to quote "Tip" O'Neil is local. And grassroots organizations is the way to go.
This group has no uniting principles like the Christian Coalition. MoveOn's candidate was Dean, and you see how far they got with that. I am not dismissing them because they have big-money behind them and a sympathetic media to carry their water, but they are hardly a 1.7 million member grass roots organization. Not many of these alledged members have actually contributed a dime, most probably just signed up to recieve e-mail.