Dobson Finally Speaks

Dobson Says Huckabee Win Displays Power Of Christian Conservatives
Posted by Brian Montopoli CBS News

Ever since the 2006 midterm elections, there have been suggestions that the influence of Christian conservatives on U.S. presidential politics is waning.

But today Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said the Iowa caucus results suggested otherwise.

Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, easily won the GOP vote in Iowa. Roughly 80 percent of his supporters identified themselves as born again or evangelical Christians.

`The results of the Iowa caucuses reveal that conservative Christians remain a powerful force in American politics. That had to be a great shock to those on the far left,'' Dobson said in a release, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reports that Dobson was critical of "media elites" for writing off Christian conservatives and suggested Huckabee's win "`was evidence of an energized and highly motivated conservative community."

The national influence of Christian conservatives in this presidential cycle is still yet to be seen, however. And a tough test for Huckabee will come in New Hampshire, the next state on the voting calendar. It is expected that a far smaller percentage of GOP voters in the Granite State will self-identify as evangelical Christians compared to Iowa, were entrance polls found that almost 60 percent of GOP caucus-goers described themselves as evangelical.