Effect of socially conservative 'values voters' in question

By Peggy Fikac and Gary Scharrer, The San Antonio Express-News, November 5, 2006

Gov. Rick Perry, campaigning for re-election, sat on a stage at the left hand of San Antonio minister John Hagee on Sunday as the televangelist urged the estimated 90 million viewers of his ministry to go vote Tuesday.

"Go vote. Go vote. ... I believe it is your absolute duty to do that," Hagee said in the 5,000-seat Cornerstone Church. "There are young men in Iraq right now putting their lives on the line to preserve our way of life."

Perry wasn't the only church-going candidate Sunday. Independent Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn won praise from black ministers in Fort Worth.

Democrat Chris Bell, meanwhile, ran in the 5K Race for the Cure in Austin. His wife, Alison, is a survivor of breast cancer.

And independent Kinky Friedman met with hundreds of supporters at a Houston restaurant in the afternoon, saying his election is possible if there is a big turnout.

At the San Antonio church, Hagee introduced Perry without endorsing him. But that alone may have been enough for a governor who has made the social conservatives of Texas the cornerstone of his voter base.

Hagee was a featured speaker last year for the Texas Restoration Project, an effort to organize faith-based voters to cast ballots for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and to keep those voters active for this year's elections. Perry attended all six Restoration Project meetings.

But the so-called "values vote" is believed to be dispirited nationally this year because of the congressional failure to pass a national constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and the scandal surrounding former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida.

David Barton, the former vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party and a national proponent of Christian voting, said there are questions about whether values voters will turn out in other states. He said that is not true in Texas.

"I don't think you'll see a problem here," Barton said.

But Dan Quinn, communications director of the Texas Freedom Network, which dedicates itself to separation of church and state, said Barton and other social conservative leaders expressed doubts about values voter turnout in a conference call with Texas pastors.

That call was posted on the Internet by the social conservative leadership.

In that conference call, Barton says, "There's a lot of discouragement out there, particularly among Christian voters."

Barton tells those on the conference call that if six or eight seats change hands in the Texas House, there will not be enough votes to halt embryonic stem cell research in Texas, to ratify a national gay marriage amendment or ban gay adoptions.

Barton and Kelly Shackelford, president of the Texas Free Market Foundation, also tell listeners to apply Christian values to their votes for candidates for the Texas Supreme Court.

Quinn said social conservative leaders like Barton are trying to make values voting synonymous with voting Republican.

Perry waded into one theological thicket Sunday after listening to Hagee tell his congregation, "If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God Almighty through the authority of Christ and his blood, listen to me, I'm going to say this very plainly -- you are going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket."

Perry said his faith would agree with that.

But he later told a Jewish reporter that only God can decide who goes to heaven or hell.

Bell said Perry's statements were disrespectful toward non-Christians.

"I am a Christian, and Rick Perry is certainly entitled to his beliefs. But if you are in public office, you need to respect people of all faiths and denominations," said Bell, who was campaigning in South and West Texas.

Strayhorn won rousing endorsements from Fort Worth black ministers, who compared her to Barbara Jordan, the late Gov. Ann Richards and civil rights inspiration Rosa Parks.

"This is our Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks sat down, but you are standing up for us," said the Rev. Tom Franklin, pastor at New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. "I am endorsing this grandmother."

Franklin and other ministers said their endorsements were individual and did not reflect on the church, but it was clear the congregation was along for the ride.

The Rev. Frank Lawson, pastor at Harmony Ministry Baptist Church, told his members to ignore the polls and pundits.

"If we as a people go to the polls and vote, Strayhorn wins," Lawson said. "If we go to the polls and vote, Wednesday morning will seem like Juneteenth. We have a governor that's arrogant. We have (a Legislature) that's greedy. But we have a grandma that's tough and ready to shake up the place."

Strayhorn offered a different interpretation on Scripture than the one Perry heard in San Antonio.

"I believe that we are all sinners, and I believe that there are many ways to get to heaven," Strayhorn said. "We are all God's children."

Asked whether those who don't believe in Jesus are doomed for hell, she said, "Obviously, I disagree."

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