Will Conservatives Come Out For GOP?

Critical to the Republican base, conservatives are expressing confidence that their rank-and-file will vote Nov. 7 even though the Republican-controlled Congress hasn't delivered this year on their core issues.

"We're disgusted somewhat with some of the Republicans, but we'd be in a whole lot worse shape with the Democrats," said the Rev. Don Wildmon of Tupelo, Mississippi, chairman of the conservative American Family Association. "So, if you can't get the whole loaf, take a half a loaf."

Together, fiscal and social conservatives make up a significant segment of the Republican faithful, and the Republican Party always needs them to vote in droves. That's especially important this year for November elections because turnout typically is low in a non-presidential election years and polls show the public favoring Democrats to control Congress.

"If they don't come to the polls, we're in trouble," said Bishop Harry Jackson of College Park, Maryland, an evangelical Christian who leads the High-Impact Leadership Coalition, which promotes "moral issues" in urban communities.

With seven weeks left in the campaign, there's some concern among Republicans that conservatives — evangelicals included — might not vote in Nov. 7 elections because of their unhappiness with Congress and President George W. Bush.

A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that 42 percent of white evangelicals disapprove of the job Bush has done as president. In 2004, exit polls showed 78 percent of white evangelicals voted for him.

"Republican voters are very soft, and I have no idea what this November holds," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, a proponent of state and federal constitutional bans on gay marriage.

The fear of low turnout has led prominent conservative groups to initiate voter mobilization and outreach efforts. In that vein, hundreds of people attended a four-day "Values Voter Summit" sponsored by the country's leading conservatives and featuring several Republicans contemplating running for president in 2008.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Sam Brownback and Senator George Allen addressed the conference Friday, and Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were on tap Saturday.

Absent from the agenda were, among others, Senator John McCain, the Republican whose maverick style and votes on gay marriage and embryonic stem-cell research have irked conservatives, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who also has drawn the ire of that constituency.

After speaking to the conference, Republican Congressman Mike Pence said in an interview that he is confident conservatives will overlook Congress' lack of final action on their main issues.

"Conservative Americans are beginning to awaken to the perils of a Democratic Congress," he said.

The House and Senate hope to adjourn next week so lawmakers can spend the final few weeks before the election campaigning. That leaves little or no time for the House and Senate to vote on passionate issues for conservatives.

Congress still has not sent Bush an immigration reform or border security bill. Efforts to rein in federal spending this year have been piecemeal. And, the Senate has made only marginal progress in getting the president's judicial nominees confirmed.

Divisions among Republicans in which moderates have clashed with conservatives have stalled some of the legislation.

Meanwhile, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is dead for the year and Congress has not finished a bill aimed at preventing girls from crossing state lines to get an abortion without parental notification.

To make matters worse in the eyes of conservatives, Congress also sent the president a bill expanding the scope of federal involvement in embryonic stem cell research. Bush promptly vetoed it, his first.

Said Robert Bradley, the founder of the Massachusetts Family Institute: "Ultimately the conservatives, as annoyed as they are, will understand how awful the alternatives are in this case."