Circling the wagons

Earlier, we wrote about the fairconvention.org website, the debate over the party rules, and the efforts by Ron Paul supporters to have more influence at the convention. Since we did that, it's only fair to talk about the other side of the equation.

The Pro-Life, Pro-Family Coalition includes representatives from most of the major social conservative organizations and, for the most part, supports the current leadership of the party. The group has endorsed Party Chairman Tina Benkiser for re-election. It has sent a mass-email to GOP activists. “Also,” according to a coalition e-mail, “an organized effort is underway to ‘take over’ the convention, trying to elect National Delegates who have declared that they will not support the Republican nominee...The current State Party Rules have worked very well for our conservative grassroots activists. Any attempt to change our Rules by those who do not hold to our pro-life, pro-family values must be opposed, and we would caution against any amendments that would substantially alter the current Rules.”

The group includes many heavy-hitters from the social conservative movement. Some of the key players in the coalition include (groups listed for identification only) Kelly Shackelford (Free Market Foundation), Merry-Lynn Gerstenschlager (Texas Eagle Forum), David Barton (former party vice chairman, Wallbuilders), Joe Pojman (Texas Alliance for Life), and many more.