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"I think the whole episode with Foley and the Party has some sitting back saying, 'You know, all this talk about big tent strategy — this looks more like a three-ring circus.' I'm just not sure this is a party I want to be a part of," he said.

Still, both Dobson and Perkins are seeking to get out the Christian conservative vote. They have been holding a series of rallies around the country and sounding an urgent alarm on the issue of gay marriage.

"It will have major implications for the future of this country," Dobson told a rally in Nashville. "Because the family, and marriage being the centerpiece of it, is the ground floor, and that's the foundation. Everything sits on the foundation, and if you undermine it or weaken it, you threaten the whole superstructure."

Eight states, including Tennessee, have pro-traditional marriage amendments on the ballot this year — an issue that helped Republicans in 2004.

In Tennessee, state Sen. David Fowler has been spearheading the movement to get the marriage amendment passed. And he's been enlisting support from churches.

"They are a great vehicle for reaching a large number of people in a quick period of time, relatively inexpensively," he said.

Perkins says he believes religious conservatives will turn out in big numbers on Nov. 7.

"It's kind of like a reserve military," he said. "They come out when needed and when they're called upon, and so I think when the threat is there, they will be there to defend the institution of marriage."

But he warns Republicans not to assume religious conservative voters have nowhere to go.

"They're not wed to a party," he said. "They're wed to a core set of issues and values, and that's where they will go. And when a party or a political figure leaves those issues, those voters will leave that person or that party."

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November (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50