"If Christian Evangelicals and the leaders within that community don't give support to a person who is one of them. Who's not coming to them.. but is coming from them. Then it will have a chilling effect on future Evangelicals wanting to run for office.
They're gonna say, "You know what? If I can't get the support of my own family, of the people who are most like me, people who have in essence mentored and encouraged me, then maybe, for whatever reasons they are looking elsewhere"... means that we've now come to a place where we've lost any real sense of the Evangelical Leader having a role.
If the NRA, for example says well this time, 'We don't care about your position on guns, it's really all about your position on global warming.' Then the NRA has just lost it's leverage. If Greenpeace says, 'We don't care about your positon on the environment all we care about is your position on guns', they've lost their leverage on their issue.
If the Evangelical Comminity doesn't hold our feet to the fire as canidates, about our own personal character as well as our stand and our record on issues like the sacntity of human life and the role of traditional marriage, then you know what? We've lost our leverage. We're another political special interest group like the Republican Women of any county USA. And have lost any real impact in helping to shape the debate and move the election.
I would hate to see that happen. Because many of us have become involved in and embroiled in the political world BECAUSE of our convictions, BECAUSE we believe things.
What a shame if we lose that. What a shame if all the years in which people have worked to try to make sure that we could influence the position of our government toward the innocent human life that is now taken at will.
If we lose that, it's not about losing elections, we've lost really our soul, our integrity and our purpose for being involved."
Christian: Pray about these matters, because it matters what you do.
Excerpts from an interview with Governor Mike Huckabee
