Interesting analysis of the “evangelical” voter, but I was only referring to some postings last night that quoted Gary Bauer, Focus on the Family’s Tony Perkins, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention - some of the religious “leaders” who were previously backing Santorum, who have come out for Romney since Santorums’s dropout.
Haven’t heard anything from Viguerie.
Any of ‘em including Levin could have gone over to Gingrich (or Paul) instead of Romney. But they went to Romney.
Gingrich and Paul were coming in last and dead last in the last several primaries. Levin was steadfast on his conservative stance until Santorum quit. He knows the upcoming states aren't going to go for Gingrich. Newt rode the Food Stamp line in the debate right through South Carolina. His shot was the south and it didn't pan out.
There is serious bad blood between a number of them and Newt Gingrich for a wide variety of reasons. And evangelical conservative leaders are not uniform on their views any more than economic conservatives or national defense conservatives — for example, Gary Bauer endorsed McCain in February 2008 when McCain had 719 delegates, compared to 234 for Mike Huckabee.
Evangelicals are notoriously difficult to “lead from the top.” If there's any group that requires passion to get them to the polls, its evangelicals, and that is not easy for any candidate trying to reach the evangelical vote.