With Declining Evangelical Power, Only Two Candidates Attend Southern Baptist Forum
On Tuesday, Russell Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), will interview presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) in front of 13,000 evangelical pastors in Nashville, Tennessee, the first via satellite and the second in person.
On paper, the event seems like standard fare for a Republican primary, as it’s certainly not unusual for GOP candidates to court evangelical votes. But while evangelicals have a long history of mixing faith and politics, the seemingly innocuous Southern Baptist conference — which will only include appearances from two presidential candidates amid a field of almost 20 GOP hopefuls — might be indicative of something else: The decline of the Religious Right.
Granted, mingling with Southern Baptists in Nashville could be a practical campaign tactic for both Rubio and Bush, the latter of whom also delivered the convocation at the Christian-affiliated Liberty University earlier this year and is actively appealing to the growing Hispanic evangelical vote. Both candidates are Roman Catholics who are struggling to court evangelicals: A July Quinnipiac poll found that among likely Iowa caucus voters, Bush, Rubio, and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) claimed just 6 percent of “born again Christians,” which — while not terrible in a crowded field — still shows ample room for growth when compared to Ben Carson (9 percent), Ted Cruz (11 percent), Scott Walker (18 percent), and even Donald Trump (8 percent).
But even though Bush and Rubio’s involvement is probably a calculated political ploy, the ERLC event — which is itself part of the two-day “Send North America” Christian conference — is also notable for who it excludes. A press release for the conference stated that invitations were issued to GOP candidates polling at 10 percent or higher in the Real Clear Politics national average from May 1 to July 4. The ERLC didn’t respond to ThinkProgress’ request to clarify that description, but the statement implies that at least some candidates declined to attend — presumably including Wisconsin governor and proud evangelical Scott Walker, who has polled at more than 10 percent several times over the past few months. This also likely means that right-wing heroes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) — both of whom are Southern Baptist — were not even invited, based on their polling numbers. Organizers acknowledged that Hillary Clinton, a proud Methodist, also declined to attend.
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http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/08/04/3687481/why-evangelicals-need-bush/?
