Road To Salvation Or Ruin?

If it's McCain voters the candidates want, George W. Bush's embrace of Bob Jones University could be the kiss of death for his campaign.

CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports Bush's appearance at that South Carolina bastion of Christian conservatism helped him win that state's GOP primary race, but at what price?

"George Bush certainly allowed himself to get too close to the elements of the Christian right which are going to scare off people in other parts of the country," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

Because of the Bob Jones visit, King switched support from Bush to John McCain, but the Congressman has a 100 percent approval rating from, of all groups, the Christian Coalition. Still, he worries about the GOP's alliance with the reverends of the right like Jerry Falwell.

"It certainly hurts us in areas like the Northeast and the Midwest. We're viewed as intolerant," said King. "There's a self-righteousness to their religious fervor.

Polls show that the Christian right contributed to the general election defeats of Bush's father and Bob Dole by repelling more moderate voters. Scott Reed, Dole's campaign chairman, recommended Bush keep his distance from Pat Robertson.

"He is a bad symbol right now for George W. Bush," said Reed.

But Haley Barbour, who ran the Republican Party when Dole ran for president, remembered a kinder, gentler Christian right that was, above all, loyal.

"One of the good things I liked about working with them," said Barbour, "is once we have a nominee, even if it's not one they supported in the primary, they usually unify behind our nominee."

Candidates have always jogged to the left or to the right and back to the center from either direction on the way to the White House. The trick is finding your way to the center - and some people think Bush will have trouble doing that.

"Bush has managed to get himself into a little bit of a bind right now," said Reed. "It looks like his back is against the wall as these self-appointed leaders attempt to be calling the shots on how the campaign should be run."

Pollsters, pundits, and politicians like to describe the primary season as a search for a party's soul. Now the question is: Did George Bush, while seeking his party's soul, sell his soul to the wrong group?