At BeliefNet's God-o-Meter blog, Dan Gilgoff has a preview of John McCain's upcoming appearance at the secretive conservative brain trust Council for National Policy. For Republican presidential candidates, an appearance at the CNP is considered essential for consolidating the support of all three wings of the now-shaky coalition between national security hawks, free market and anti-tax crusaders, and the religious right. The bluster about the possibility of a third-party due to religious right dissatisfaction with the Republican field emerged from one of the organization's meetings last fall, but as I reported on The FundamentaList this week, such talk pre-dated that meeting by about a year.
In any case, in his speech and other interactions today, McCain is undoubtedly going to try to prove his religion credentials, his contrition for his past dissing of the religious right's dear leaders, and his commitment to their core issues. It's an important moment for him to pitch himself to the movement's elites, who presumably go on to persuade their followers to vote. Viewed another way, it's a forum for them to apply pressure on the candidate to give them what they want in exchange for their blessing. Given the current state of affairs on the religious right, however, for a meaningful get-out-the-conservative-evangelical-vote effort, McCain's got a lot more work to do beyond today, with many more people and in even more behind-the-scenes sessions than the CNP.
--Sarah Posner
