The Boston Globe takes a close look at the role a “secretive coalition that includes some of the most influential social conservatives” called the Arlington Group is playing in the 2008 Republican nominating process.
Over the past few months, members of the executive committee of the so-called Arlington Group have questioned several declared and potential White House hopefuls with the intention of settling on a single candidate, according to Arlington Group members and Republican operatives familiar with the discussions.
A nod from the conservative movement’s biggest names to followers at the grass-roots level would give a major boost to candidates such as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, whose past moderate positions on social issues have hampered his attempts to court the right, or former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who lacks front-runner name recognition and fund-raising numbers.
“If they were to get behind me, it would be a huge surge for me,” Huckabee said in an interview. “I wish I could tell you today that I’m the guy.”
Leaders of the group have interviewed Huckabee, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, US Representative Duncan Hunter of California, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who hasn’t entered the race but may later this year. It’s not clear which other candidates have been or will be interviewed. The group has not yet questioned Romney, Senator John McCain of Arizona, or former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to those campaigns.
It looks like the Arlington Group isn’t satisfied with the top three Republican contenders, as they’ve focused on second and unannounced candidates.
The Arlington Group is a coalition of non-profit organizations and churches, they cannot legally make an endorsement of a candidate. Their goal instead seems to be to come to a consensus decision of who the best conservative candidate is and then individually push that candidate within their areas of influence. The Globe anonymously quotes one member as saying, “It is our desire that all of us, in a united effort, could marshal our resources to the same end.” James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Gary Bauer, Richard Viguerie and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council are members of the Arlington Group. Their endorsements will carry weight with Christian conservatives.
Though members of the Arlington Group are not acting in official capacities as they interview presidential candidates, the line is blurry.
In addition to the fact that members of the Arlington Group’s executive committee are leading the interviews, [Arlington Group executive director Shannon] Royce, according to e-mails obtained by the Globe, has coordinated candidate visits and sent the campaigns an issues questionnaire to fill out. The questionnaire asks candidates their views on, among other topics, a proposed federal same-sex marriage ban, judicial appointments, the budget, and publicly funded sex-education programs. In addition, candidate interviews have been held at the Washington headquarters of the Family Research Council, an influential Christian organization that hosts Arlington Group staff members and meetings.
The Group will have to balance backing a conservative who reflects their values and a candidate who has the money and campaign infrastructure to win the nomination. It’s not clear that one person combines both requisites this election cycle. If a movement conservative can build support of heavyweight activists like Dobson, Bauer, and Perkins it’s conceivably for a religious conservative like Brownback or Huckabee to move up the ladder and gain viability. But for the Arlington Group to back a Brownback or Huckabee over the three front-runners or unannounced heavyweight Newt Gingrich, they would be taking a big risk in terms of what level of access they will have down the road. Endorsements of that type would effectively pit the religious conservative base against the anti-tax and homeland security wings of the Republican Party that have been excited by the Rudy McRomney candidacies.
This isn’t the first time that Christian conservatives’ lack of excitement has come forward during the Republican primary and it certainly won’t be the last.
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