A disappointing finish in last month’s “Super Tuesday” southern primaries virtually dashed Pat Robertson’s hopes for the Republican nomination in the 1988 presidential elections. Yet, enthusiasm about Robertson’s political aspirations remains high among his supporters. And while some news media accounts suggest Robertson’s showing signifies the death of evangelical political influence, many observers believe that instead it reflects their growing political sophistication.
Up From Oblivion
Robertson’s campaign has attracted fervent support and opposition—both within and outside Christian circles. But even the critics concede his campaign exhibits impressive organizational skills. Robertson has moved from being a religious broadcaster relatively unknown beyond the Christian community to a presidential candidate to be reckoned with. In the process, he has built a huge mailing list purported to be the largest of any candidate.
“The organization base—the way they went about it—has been about as masterful as anyone has ever put out,” said Jeffrey Hadden, sociology professor at the University of Virginia.
Yet, that foundation and a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses and other preliminary races failed to deliver Robertson victories in his native South. Many blame Robertson’s political inexperience, pointing to a series of highly publicized statements he made close to Super Tuesday (see related story).
Frank Kent, publisher of Black Family magazine and an official in the Nixon administration, said some of those statements, along with former Congressman Pete McCloskey’s charges that Robertson lied about his Korean War record, damaged the perception of Robertson’s integrity. “One of the things evangelicals have which makes us different from the world is our integrity, and when we talk about integrity, we have to make sure that whoever is leading us symbolizes integrity,” Kent said.
A Poisonous Press?
Officials from the Robertson campaign counter by putting some of the blame on hostility coming from the mass media and other fronts. “There is a lot of venom against our campaign, Pat, and the concept of Christianity—against the possibility of returning this nation to the precepts it was founded upon,” said campaign spokesman Scott Hatch. “Pat Robertson was the lightning rod for that venom.”
One example the campaign points to is the work of the liberal lobby group People for the American Way (PAW), which circulated a report on Robertson’s “extreme views on current public policy issues” such as women’s rights, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. Constitution. The report cited many religious statements Robertson made over the years on his “700 Club” television program and in his writings, PAW also circulated a videotape containing some of Robertson’s past statements on the “700 Club.” Both the report and the video have been widely and unflatteringly used in media reports.
Some observers outside the campaign agree that the Robertson candidacy faced an unfair amount of hostility, especially from the press. “It was vicious coverage,” said Hadden, “but he [Robertson] didn’t do a very good job of checking it.”
Hadden said he would like to see Robertson address things such as his belief in personal “words of knowledge from the Lord,” Armegeddon, the relationship between church and state, and his relationship to other past and present television evangelists. “If he would really cover those issues in a manner which I think he hasn’t done, he may put them behind him,” Hadden said.
Robertson And Evangelicals
By neglecting to address such issues, Robertson may have inadvertently alienated some of his supporters in the Christian community. Indeed, some of the most difficult people for Robertson to reach have been his fellow Christians. “Pat Robertson has tried to divorce his candidacy from his calling, … and that makes a lot of us uncomfortable,” said Kent.
How much support Robertson really had from evangelicals is up for grabs. Robert Dugan, director of the National Association of Evangelicals’ Washington Office on Public Affairs (NAE), asserted that Robertson “never came close to locking up the evangelical community.” A poll taken last month of 101 NAE board members found Robertson running last as their preferred Republican nominee, while Vice President George Bush placed first. (Richard Gephardt placed first for the Democrats, with Albert Gore second and Michael Dukakis third.)
Headlines after Super Tuesday proclaimed that Pat Robertson’s so-called invisible army—a powerful cadre of Christian voters—had failed to materialize, but some evangelical analysts disagree. “The invisible army is bigger than Pat,” said Michael Cromartie, research associate for Protestant Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “The invisible army is made up of people who are not very happy with the state of American culture, people who want morality and traditional values put into the debate whether Pat is in the race or not,” he said.
Dugan said many of the people on the “Religious Right” who may have been viewed as part of the invisible army “found champions in any one of the Republican candidates.”
For Hadden, this diversity among evangelicals in the primary process is evidence of a growing political savvy. Hadden said that in 1976, Christians largely voted for Jimmy Carter because he was a Christian. Then, in 1980, having been disillusioned by Carter, Christians looked to Ronald Reagan, who promoted concerns about traditional values. However, at the recent National Religious Broadcasters’ Convention, Christians were lining up behind a variety of candidates and asking questions about who is electable. Hadden called that “an enormous progession to political sophistication.”
Robertson’s campaign is confident the activism generated by their candidate will continue. “The injection into the political process of tens of thousands of upright, God-fearing, God-loving people is going to have more impact than the term of any one man,” said spokesman Hatch.
In the meantime, Robertson is still expected to have a strong presence at the Republican party convention in New Orleans this summer. “He and his people will have to be treated with respect,” said the NAE’S Dugan. “The party doesn’t want to reject the people who will be an important part of the coalition this fall for the Republicans overall.”
And Robertson’s people are already hinting at future political aspirations. “Comparisons between this candidacy and Ronald Reagan are eerie,” Hatch said. “Remember, it took Reagan four times [to get to the White House]. Like Pat said, … this is just the beginning.”
By Kim A. Lawton.
