Sean Wilentz on the Republicans and the conservatives:
No matter who wins the presidency in 2008, an entire political era, dating back to 1974, appears to be ending. Neither the era's central political figure, Ronald Reagan, nor Reagan's Republican successors managed to undo the New Deal or the basic reforms of the 1960s. Yet by skewing the progressive tax system, politicizing the federal judiciary, and otherwise moving the country to the right -- and by helping to bring the Cold War to the edge of resolution -- Reagan dramatically affected the sum and substance of politics at home and abroad. Despite an interruption in the late 1970s and a temporary reversal in the 1990s, the age of Reagan has marked the longest era of conservative political domination in American history -- roughly as long as the period from the rise of the New Deal to the fall of the Great Society.
And Sarah Posner has the latests on the religious right:
Ultimately, it's hard to imagine Christian right loyalists abandoning McCain; there's far too much at stake for the Christian right, and it's project to create and anti-Roe majority on the Supreme Court, for the hardcore activists to stay home (or vote for Barack Obama) in November. But there's an emerging consensus that McCain's failure to consolidate the support of major evangelical leaders will hurt him organizationally -- especially damaging given Obama's proven grassroots organizing success.
McCain's failure to meet early and enthusiastically with major evangelical leaders was a major tactical error according to Doug Wead, who advised both Bushes on their evangelical outreach. The grassroots tend to follow the leadership, and the leadership, through churches, provides the GOP get-out-the-vote infrastructure.
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