THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270281
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: 53 lines
Leaders of the Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition said Monday they could support a Democrat for president in 2000 if the candidate promises to oppose abortion.
At a coalition-sponsored ``Celebration of Life'' held in the shadow of the Democratic National Convention, director Ralph Reed praised the Democratic Party for its record of protecting minorities and the poor. But he said the party's support of abortion rights is ``a repudiation of its proud heritage of protecting the defenseless.''
``For African Americans, for women, the poor, the downtrodden . . . you always stood first,'' he said to about 350 conservative Democrats inside Chicago's lakefront Field Museum.
``There is a place on your platform for the defenseless unborn. I believe there will be a pro-life candidate for president in the Democratic Party and hundreds of pro-life delegates in 2000, and that we can work together for the things that protect our children and our families,'' he said.
Reed's remarks came as the coalition is accused by federal regulators of working too closely with the Republican Party to qualify as a non-political organization. If the Federal Election Commission prevails in a lawsuit, the coalition could be forced to comply with spending and contribution limits and to disclose the sources and recipients of coalition funds.
Reed said Monday's event was planned well before the federal lawsuit was filed, and reiterated his assertion that the group's ties to the GOP are strong simply because ``it is the only major pro-life party in America right now.''
The gathering paled in comparison to a similar rally the coalition sponsored during the Republican National Convention in San Diego two weeks ago, a point Reed attributed to a reluctance within the Democratic Party to welcome abortion opponents.
He pledged to work within both parties to promote anti-abortion candidates, saying abortion ``is not a matter of right or left, but of right or wrong.''
``They say that the Christian Coalition is trying to take over the Republican Party, but our ambitions are a lot bigger than that,'' Reed said. ``We do not vote party label, we vote our consciences. We must allow those false barriers that man has created to fall so that we can be one in Christ.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Anti-abortion activist Dan Martino of Altoona, Pa., holds a doll
aloft in the designated protest area outside Chicago's United Center
on Monday, opening day of the Democratic convention.
KEYWORDS: DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 1996 by CNB