Subscribe to Christianity Today
Subscribe to Christianity Today
Donate to Christianity Today
November 22, 2009
Free Newsletters:
RSS Feeds | Audio | Twitter

Home > 2008 > August (Web-Only)Christianity Today, August (Web-Only), 2008  |   |  
Getting People Excited about John McCain
Evangelical outreach coordinator Marlys Popma had resigned from the campaign last year but quickly changed her mind.



ADVERTISEMENT

One recent poll shows that evangelicals are not as enthusiastic about Sen. John McCain as they were for President Bush in 2004. It's Marlys Popma's job to change that.

Popma is now based in Washington, D.C., as the campaign's national coordinator of evangelical outreach. While most evangelicals back McCain, only 28 percent of them say they "strongly support" him, compared with 57 percent who strongly supported Bush in August 2004, according to a survey released last week by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Popma began working for the McCain campaign in late 2006 as the coalitions director in Iowa. She has also served as the executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa, deputy national political director for Gary Bauer for President in 2000, and president of Iowa's Right to Life Committee.

You announced in July 2007 that you were planning to resign. What happened? Why did you change your mind?

It was a time when the campaign was going through financial difficulties. I had become convinced at one point in the day that there might be no play in Iowa. Because I was from Iowa, I figured that if there was no play in Iowa, it might be best that I might not be engaged. It took less than eight hours from the time I tendered my resignation for me to find out that the campaign was planning to participate in Iowa, that they were serious about Iowa. It never had anything to do with Sen. McCain. It had only to do with financial implications and whether we were going to be engaging in Iowa. Within eight hours, I knew I had made one of the biggest political mistakes of my life.

McCain just spoke at Rick Warren's forum, he met with Billy and Franklin Graham, and he met with evangelicals in Ohio. What is the campaign doing to reach out to evangelicals, other than these meetings?

Those meetings are less important than after Saddleback, but they were still important. It's very important that we touch leadership in groups or one at a time. We plan to make a visit with leadership in priority states. We also send regular e-mails to the individuals whom we have identified in our group. We recently put out a piece on John's faith. It's mostly getting John McCain's conservative message out to the grassroots.

The Obama campaign has been holding "faith forums" to engage with clergy and religious voters. What do you think about that and your approach?

The Democratic Party has not in the past done a great deal of outreach to evangelicals. They don't have a natural base, they don't have natural people to go to. They can't speak with Right to Life groups and Right to Life individuals because Barack Obama is not pro-life. They have to have a slightly different approach. They have to reach evangelicals whom they believe are going to be attracted to their particular message.

After the Saddleback forum, I don't think that message will penetrate as well. People heard from [Obama's] own mouth that he's pro-choice and that the decision of when unborn life deserves protection is above his pay grade. There was almost a gasp in the audience when he said that. They do have to take a little different approach.

We understand on this campaign that there are essentially two groups in which we look for evangelicals. One is what I call "movement conservatives." Those are individuals who have for years been working for the unborn and working hard to make sure that the definition of marriage is between one man and one woman. There is also a young emerging group of people who have broadened their scope. They haven't neglected marriage and life issues, but they've broadened them into a concern about global poverty and making sure the quality of life for individuals is one that a human expects and deserves.

share this pageshare this page



E-mail this pageWrite CTPrint this articlePost a comment





  


Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.

If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.


Click here for international orders2-for-1 Gifts!

[Reader Reviews]
Average User Rating: 

Displaying 1 - 3 of 17 comments.See all comments
Big E   Posted: September 06, 2008 9:04 PM
If there are as many Christians out there as they say they are, then how could you vote for Obama ? And if we are a Christian Nation, how could anyone vote for Obama? McCain may not be what we won't, be look whats left. We live in a time, when a lot of people want hand outs by the Governement. Remember this, " A Goverement that can give you everything you want, is also strong enough to take it away.Wake up Christian people. Sorry for the spelling. thanks. Obama should not be worry about our troops getting killed in Iraq, because it don't worry him about babys in the mothers womb.

TOM CANADA   Posted: September 06, 2008 11:36 AM
The people of America have an abusive relationship with there leadership. A classic cycle of abuse and reconcilliation. The leaders treat them like crap for 3 years, no health care, war and hurricanes with no relief, privatizing your pension (you got robbed right there!) list goes on. Then comes election time & the honeymoon starts again, the cooing and wooing, "no taxes sweety and so many jobs and we'll teach the kids and a insurance corporation will get you a doctor etc. but then after the election the abuse starts again, and the people of america get a black eye and a bloody nose while their president is out sleeping with some sexy corporation.

n   Posted: September 06, 2008 12:21 AM
wow, so laura lee, you are saying that YOU know that barack is not a christian? who made you judge? barack is more of a christian than any politician i've seen...EVER. and he walks the talk. and while i disagree on abortion, he's also more pro-life than any candidates. because, let's face it, pro-life includes children already born, it includes the death penalty, it includes war....hmmm, sounding pretty pro-life to me. as for sarah, since i work for a christian humanitarian ministry full time on poverty reduction issues, i consider myself to be a community organizer. i like mccain, but sarah so offended me and the profession of any non-profit worker, and then laughed after she said it, well, it just wasn't very christian. it was insulting to me. the work that we do brings countless people out of poverty and to Jesus. that's why i do it. i wouldn't bash other people to try to win an election. it just gives all christians a bad name.

The allotted time for commenting has ended.

sponsors 








[Browse More Christianity Today]

Search






















Search by Name
Or use Advanced Search to search by program, region, cost, affiliation, enrollment, more!

Search by:





Books & Culture
Christianity Today
Church Law & Tax Report
Church Finance Today
Leadership Journal
Men of Integrity
Outcomes
Kyria.com
Your Church
ChristianityTodayLibrary.com
PreachingToday.com