"Don't expect to see the reverends Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson [3] or Franklin
Graham [4] at the podium during next week's Republican National Convention,
whose planners hope to keep fire, brimstone and the Christian Right
offstage at Madison Square Garden.
About the only big name Christians making prime-time noise at Madison
Square Garden at next week's Republican gathering will be Third Day [5], a
popular [pro-Bush] evangelical Christian rock band. .. . Some say
the prominent role of Christian conservatives at the 1992 convention
turned moderate voters away from the Republican ticket.
This year, President Bush's campaign strategists have made extraordinary
efforts to mobilize conservative evangelical and conservative Catholic
voters -- hoping the president's stand against abortion rights and
same-sex marriage will get them to the polls and into the Republican
column.
But the four-day convention that opens in New York on Monday will
highlight moderate Republicans -- such as California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger [6] and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz."