Election Results Show A Mixed Night For The Christian Right

US News & World Report ^ | 11/4/09 | Dan Gilgoff

[steve-b]

Yes, socially conservative Republican candidates prevailed last night in the big races—the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey—but it was the special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District that had become a national symbol for the battle between religious conservatives and the GOP establishment. In recent days, it was the race that the big Christian right groups like the Family Research Council and Susan B. Anthony List and the movement's favored politician, Sarah Palin, had become most outspoken about.

But after forcing the socially liberal Republican out of the race, the right's candidate, Doug Hoffman of the Conservative Party, lost yesterday to Democrat Bill Owens. It's the first time a Democrat has won the district's seat in more than 100 years. After having made the race a national emblem, the right—including the Christian right—have to face the national implications of its loss there. Even in a ruby red district, the aggressively conservative Hoffman brand failed.

In Virginia and New Jersey, by contrast, the winning Republican candidates made a point of downplaying their social conservatism....

[Salvation]

Down with Obortion O!

 

[w. Seymour]

All joking aside, some people will vote based solely on appearance and Hoffman's dental hygiene would have been a real turnoff to such voters. It even jumped out at me when I first viewed his website, and I'm not the kind of person to judge based on appearances.

[nascarnation]

Looks like the guy’s got a few crooked teeth?
Somehow that doesn’t fall under my definition of “dental hygiene”