Conservatives: Did Dubya Snubya?
As George W. Bush prepares for his first debate against Al Gore, a key leader of the Republican Party's conservative base is making more and more disgruntled noises.
The Rev. Pat Robertson - founder of the Christian Coalition and a Bush backer - told CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday that the Texas governor's bid for the White House keeps taking social conservatives for granted.
"I'm sophisticated enough, been around the track enough to understand what they're doing," Robertson, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nod in 1988, said of the Bush campaign. "They figure they've got the conservative base locked up and they don't have to worry about it, so the play is to the independents."
But, Robertson warned, "It's a dangerous strategy just to ignore your base, especially to play like something you're not."
On Saturday, Bush addressed the Christian Coalition's convention in Washington via videotape. Initially, the Republican nominee had planned to skip that event entirely, citing the need for debate prep against Vice President Gore, his Democratic rival. At the last minute, the Bush camp opted for a three-minute videotaped address to the gathering.
Yet that move did not seem to mollify Robertson - or, he said, the party's social conservatives.
"All I know is that they are not energized," he told Face The Nation. "We've talked to people and the word is coming back from Texas, not just other places. They say, 'Why doesn't he get in there and start really hitting Gore?'"
Robertson said the way for Bush to turn things around is to sharpen his differences with Gore - both on the issues and in tone.
Bush "has to come through like a fighter … You don't make games out of a presidential campaign, but you have to take major issues where the opponent is vulnerable and point them out to the people so there is a clear-cut choice," he said.
"Right now, the people don't think they have a choice. They haven't delineated the positions of the candidates, at least in my opinion as clearly as they need to be."
The religious right icon added the governor needs to "get tough" and stop competing with his opponent on the Democrats' turf.
Bush "has got to begin hitting Gore where Gore is vulnerable: the big spending, possibly doubling the size of government," Robertson said. "He's got to come out swinging like a fighter. And if he doesn't do it, if he continues this sort of be nice sort of approach, I think he is going to lose."
Even so, Robertson remains committed to the Republican nominee.
"I want to say clearly on the record, I want very much for George Bush to win the election," he said. "I do not wish to see a Gore presidency, because from the social point of view, I think it would be a disaster, plus the spending proposals that he has advanced would be devastating to the federal budget."
Whether Robertson's supporters and those like them follow suit - instead of staying home on Election Day or voting for Reform Party hopeful Pat Buchanan - is a question that only the coming weeks can answer.