Focus on the Family President James Dobson is accusing Barack Obama today of "distorting" the Bible and espousing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution. Dobson has also been highly critical of John McCain, whom he says may not be "conservative" enough. I use the scare quotes here because one Republican's definition of what it means to be conservative doesn't always comport with another's. The Dobson attack is a good development for McCain, in so much that it takes the heat off of him and places it on Obama. McCain will never get the high-profile evangelical endorsements that he wants, but second-party attacks on Obama may be even more effective for his cause. As we saw in the 2004 general election with the battle over gay marriage, negative campaigning often drives more voters to the polls than a positive agenda. Secondly, I don't believe McCain needs to worry too much about getting Dobson's endorsement. He'd probably have to spend more time defending the endorsement than bragging about it, and there's just not a lot of evidence that endorsements from any public figures, even those in the evangelical community, sway too many voters. Besides, McCain is already scoring a solid majority of evangelical voters in polls. His fairly recent conversion to the Baptist faith could help him in the South as well (along with helpful campaigning from Mike Huckabee).
![[RSS]](http://67.192.49.194/templates/images/rss_icon.gif){kind=icon}
Post A Comment