Searching for love in all the Right's places

For more than two decades social and economic conservatives have artfully put aside their differences and forged a powerful coalition -- under the umbrella of the Republican Party -- that has won five of the last seven presidential elections and, until this past November, controlled Congress for more than a decade. Ken Connor, the Chairman of the Center for a Just Society, described it in a recent column titled "Base to GOP: Hasta la Vista, Baby!" as "One of the most successful coalitions in modern political history."

The "Reagan Coalition," as Connor termed it, "brought the Republicans great success, including occupancy of the White House and twelve years of control over the House of Representatives."

These days, writes Connor, the coalition is "fraying" and "and is on the verge of unraveling."

While Connor places the blame for the "unraveling" on the current debate over immigration, there has been ample reporting about how conservative evangelical Christians are also highly dissatisfied with the current slate of candidates running for the GOP's presidential nomination -- particularly the top tier of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Senator John McCain, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

This well-publicized disenchantment hasn't stopped candidates from courting the religious right. Rudy Giuliani's recent jaunt to the Rev. Pat Robertson's Regent University campus was an example of how both declared and undeclared candidates are searching for love in all the Religious Right's places.

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