America's Christian Right appears to be underwhelmed with the quality of the politicians vying to become the Republican candidate for president. The strongest, Rudy Giuliani, is weak when it comes to any verifiable commitment to religious extremism. Mitt Romney is far more appealing as a devout religious candidate, but many regard his Mormonism as little more than an un-Christian cult.

Many therefore regard Fred Thompson as their last, best hope to preserve the presence of extremism and anti-secularism as the guiding principles of the Republican Party — and he hasn't even officially declared his candidacy yet. As a sign of just how anxious they are to have someone — anyone — new, many are openly willing to forgive, forget, and ignore the fact that he recently did lobbying work on behalf of an abortion rights group.

"There's a consensus developing around him that's pretty clear and pretty profound," said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, an Orlando-based conservative group. "I've never seen anything like it in 25 years in politics." ... "It's almost as if the man and the moment met," said Richard Land, who speaks for more than 16 million people as head of public policy for the nation's Southern Baptists. ...

Conservatives say the desire to rally behind Thompson stems partly from wanting a primary competitor strong enough to stop Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who is leading in many polls but whose support for abortion rights makes him unacceptable to many Republicans. "He's got a real good chance to emerge as the conservative alternative to Giuliani," Bauer said. Asked about Romney, who is also vying for the religious right's support, Bauer said, "They'll battle it out, but if I had to characterize it right now, I would say that the momentum here has moved to Thompson, at least among the social-issues conservatives."

Source: The Boston Globe

It's not enough that a candidate merely be "acceptable" to the Christian Right. In order to keep the presidency in 2008, the GOP needs a candidate that can really animate and excite their "base" of conservative evangelical Christians. Getting them out to vote in large numbers is usually necessary to ensure a Republican victory, but that will be even more important in 2008 given how unpopular the Republican Party has become due to Iraq and other problems.

What will prove to be "exciting" to the Christian Right? That's a harder question to answer. One thing to look for is the ability of conservative evangelicals to imagine that they can connect personally with this candidate on a religious level. It's not a genuine connection that matters, just the ability to imagine that one's there. This is harder with Romney whose religion is so foreign to evangelicals. It's harder with Giuliani as well because he's only started talking about religion since he realized he needed to in order to have a viable candidacy.

Fred Thompson appears to be more like Reagan than Romney, in that Romeny appears to be sincere and devout whereas Thompson appears to simply talk about religion because he needs to. This was what Reagan did in order to capture the support of conservative evangelicals — he got them to vote for him then he did almost nothing to push their agenda. For some strange reason they continue to laud him, but many seem to be starting to learn that candidates should demonstrate real religious sincerity through their actions, not merely through mouthing platitudes and demonstrating an ability to use religious rhetoric.

Not all conservative leaders have applauded Thompson. James Dobson, the leader of Focus on the Family, raised eyebrows this spring when he told US News & World Report, "I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression." A Focus on the Family spokesman told the magazine that Dobson meant he has "never known Thompson to be a committed Christian -- someone who talks openly about his faith."

And Colleen Parro, executive director of the Republican National Coalition for Life, said questions remain about Thompson's record on abortion -- not just his lobbying work, but his past expressions of support for abortion rights. "People don't really know where he stands," she said. "They're not sure they can trust him."

Can the Christian Right trust Fred Thompson to not just talk the talk but walk the walk? I'm not sure the rest of us can trust him not to endorse the extremist agenda of the Christian Right, but this doesn't mean that they can unreservedly place their trust in him, either. Politicians know that they need to go far to the right to appeal to and excite the extremist base of the Republican Party, but they also know that it's difficult to govern from an extremist position.

It might be argued that the power of the Christian Right isn't what it once was, and there is some truth in that. Being less powerful isn't the same as being irrelevant, though. If conservative evangelicals reject a candidate, it's unlikely that they will win the nomination — at least so long as there is a candidate they will support. Should such a person win the nomination and run for president as a Republican, they are almost certain to lose in the general election because of conservative evangelicals refusing to vote for them — and perhaps refusing to vote at all, thus damaging the chances of other Republicans.

The GOP hitched its wagon to the agenda of religious extremism decades ago and now no one can find a way to disconnect the two. I'm not even sure that there are many who want to try.