THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080523
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 193 lines
This year, as the Christian Coalition kicks off its annual ``Road to Victory '95'' conference in Washington, the evangelical Christian activists are sending a message to the nation: We've arrived.
The speaker list is evidence of their bragging right. Five Republican candidates for president - including front-runners Sens. Bob Dole and Phil Gramm - have lined up for the chance to make a pitch.
Their appearances are a public recognition of the power of evangelical Christians at the grass roots. The state Republican parties of 18 states, mainly in the Southeast and Northwest, are dominated by Christian conservatives, and they exercise heavy influence in 13 other states, according to the magazine Campaigns & Elections.
The Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition, with a mailing list of 1.7 million donors, is in a position that it only dreamed about a year ago when it was rallying activists for a Republican victory in Congress.
Once viewed as an irritating guest who crashed the Republican's party, the Christian Coalition and the people it represents are issuing the invitations now.
But success brings new challenges for the coalition's executive director, Ralph E. Reed Jr. He must keep his core group of Christian conservatives enthusiastic, while trying to show the American public his group's ideas aren't outside the mainstream.
``You're no longer outside the political system, throwing rocks at a glass house. You're now inside,'' observes Reed, who regularly consults with Republican legislators. ``You have a responsibility to propose things that are good, not only for your community, but for the entire country.''
Reed envisions making the coalition a fixture on America's political landscape. By the end of the decade, he believes that the coalition can expand its outreach and raise more money than ``any political organization in the country, including the national political parties.''
Some experts on the Christian conservative movement say that dream is a long shot.
``I don't see how they will rival a national political party,'' said Mark Rozell, a professor at Mary Washington College who has studied evangelical voting patterns. ``There is a limit to how large a segment of the population they can tap into. I don't see any time in the future that they will be accepted as a centrist organization.''
In recent months, Reed has pushed to position the coalition as a moderate voice, with appeal beyond evangelicals and fundamentalists. He refers to the movement as ``pro-family,'' not specifically Christian, and has plans to form a Catholic alliance. Promotional material for the ``Road to Victory '95'' conference headlines speakers on Jewish-Christian unity.
The coalition spent $1 million to promote the Republican ``Contract With America,'' in an effort to demonstrate that it could be a team player. In May, when it released its legislative agenda on social issues, ``The Contract with the American Family,'' House Speaker Newt Gingrich promised a vote on every issue.
The coalition's contract is a primer on its efforts to be moderate, experts say. It focuses on child-related issues, which experts say are the new hot button for middle-class voters.
Those child-centered goals include a constitutional amendment to expand prayer in schools and other public places; government-funded vouchers to offset tuition at private and parochial schools; and laws to protect children from pornography on the Internet and cable television.
Opposition to abortion, once the rallying cry for evangelicals, takes a back seat: The contract only calls for limits on late-term abortions. Though some at the grass roots complained that Reed should not have moderated, others can understand his reasoning.
``There is wisdom in taking one step at a time,'' said Betty Hansel, a 53-year-old Virginia Beach resident who joined the Christian Coalition of Hampton Roads two years ago.
A pro-life march was the impetus for Hansel's interest in politics, but she has kept up her involvement out of concern for a wider range of issues, including her fears about the deterioration of public education. Even in those areas, she recognizes that Christians can't expect immediate victory: If it's all or nothing, she says, you're likely to wind up empty-handed.
That's precisely the lesson that Reed has sought to teach his grass-roots followers, as he tones down the coalition's rhetoric and demands. ``We have a responsibility to recognize that the wheels of government turn slowly, and that the levers of power have to be clicked one notch at a time,'' he said. ``The danger is overreach, trying to do too much, too quickly.''
Money is a measure of power to get those wheels rolling, because it shows the coalition's power to get out its message about issues and candidates. Reed says he has started an aggressive effort to improve fund raising at the coalition's state chapters, by bringing in telemarketing and direct mail firms to work on reaching major donors.
The coalition currently raises about $5 million from its state affiliates and between $20 million and $25 million from national outreach. By the end of the decade, Reed aims to raise $50 million at the state level and $100 million at the national level. At this weekend's convention, grass-roots activists will get some introduction to those fund-raising skills.
Those who watch the coalition closely say those targets reflect a huge leap in fund raising, but may not be impossible. ``I'm not surprised to hear that he sets that as his goal,'' said Elliot Mincberg, executive vice president of the 330,000-member People for the American Way. ``I would not set any specific limits for him.''
Mincberg, like other coalition opponents, say Reed is trying to mask the coalition's vision for Christian-oriented policies with a speech that appeals to a wide segment of the electorate. Part of that strategy, they said, is letting Reed do the talking while the coalition's founder and president, evangelist and businessman Pat Robertson, moves to the sidelines.
Robertson was not mentioned in the coalition's paperback version of its ``Contract with the American Family,'' though Reed has said that he talks to him nearly every day. While Robertson is giving the keynote address on the first day of this weekend's convention, he said in a May interview with Time Magazine that he has ``moved more into the elder statesman's role.''
While Reed does the circuit of network and radio talk shows, Robertson rouses to followers mainly through his weekday news and spiritual program, ``The 700 Club.''
``Reed is conciliatory and Robertson is more hard core, the red meat talk for the constituency,'' said Randall Balmer, a professor of religion at Barnard College in New York. ``You have to find a way to placate your core constituency, but also find a way to be less radical.''
Among some evangelicals in the coalition, Reed gets more attention than Robertson. Linda Cruciano, a mother of three from Kempsville, said she listens to Christian talk radio, especially the programs of D. James Kennedy and Dr. James Dobson, more often than she catches Robertson's program. She says Reed is ``an extremely intelligent man,'' with a ``gift to verbalize what he is thinking.''
Cruciano, who leads a Bible study program for children at Atlantic Shores Baptist Church, says her Christianity is a strong force guiding her political activity. She says she is going to the coalition's convention this weekend to hear the speakers and learn what she can do to put people in office who share her views.
``There is a (Bible) verse that says, `When the wicked are in control, the people groan; when the righteous are in control, the people rejoice.' That's true,'' she said. ``I see everything black and white. There's a whole group of people who see things as gray. The Bible tells us right and wrong. I want to have people of like minds in positions of authority.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Ralph Reed
RALPH E. REED JR.
Title: Executive director of the Christian Coalition
Age: 33
Background: Born in Portsmouth, the second of three children of a
Navy doctor. He was raised a Methodist and moved frequently during
his childhood, spending his teenage years in Toccoa, Ga.
He graduated from the University of Georgia and earned a Ph.D. in
American History from Emory University. In 1983, shortly before he
became director of a national G.O.P. student committee, Reed had a
``born-again'' experience and began attending an evangelical
church.
He lives in Chesapeake with his wife and three children.
His Job: Pat Robertson, fresh from his unsuccessful bid for the
Republican presidential nomination, met Reed in 1989 at a dinner
honoring George Bush's inauguration. Robertson asked Reed to help
him start a grass-roots political organization aimed at mobilizing
evangelical Christians.
Robertson loaned Reed the money for the coalition's first
fund-raising letter to 134,000 former supporters of his campaign.
The coalition has a mailing list of 1.7 million donors and an annual
budget of about $25 million.
Goals:
Organize conservative Christians to vote against Bill Clinton in
the 1996 election.
Persuade legislators to enact the coalition's agenda, which
includes limiting late-term abortions; abolishing the U.S.
Department of Education and the National Endowments for the Arts and
Humanities; government funding for vouchers to offset tuition at
private schools; expanding religious expression in public places.
- Build the coalition's membership from 1.7 million donors to
more than 10 million by the year 2000.
"ROAD TO VICTORY "95": SELECTED SPEAKERS
TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
Phil Gramm, Republican senator from Texas, presidential
candidate
Bob Dole, Senate majority leader and Republican from Kansas,
presidential candidate
Newt Gingrich, speaker of the House of Representatives,
Republican from Georgia
Kay Coles James, Virginia secretary of health and human
Resources
Pat Robertson, Virginia-Beach based founder of the Christian
Broadcasting Network and the coalition's founder, will give the
keynote address.
SATURDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
Richard G. Lugar, Republican senator from Indiana, presidential
candidate
Lamar Alexander, former governor of Tennessee and U.S. secretary
of education under George Bush; Republican presidential candidate
Alan Keyes, radio talk show host, Republican presidential
candidate
Oliver North, radio talk show host and former Senate candidate
from Virginia
Pat Buchanan, columnist and Republican presidential candidate,
will give the keynote address.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE RALPH REED CHRISTIAN COALITION POLITICS by CNB