Reed: Christian Coalition Has No Horse in GOP Race

Aired February 8, 1996 4:19 pm

BERNARD SHAW, Anchor: Christian conservatives helped propel Pat Buchanan to his upset victory in Louisiana this week. So what impact might they have in next Iowa caucuses? For some insight, and to assess the field, we're joined in New York by Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition.

Mr. Reed, first of all, why are the Christian conservatives so split in Iowa? Unlike in '88 when they backed Pat Robertson fully, you've some of them going for Gramm, some for Buchanan, some looking at Dole.

RALPH REED, Executive Director, Christian Coalition: Well, Bernie, I think there are really two explanation for that. I mean, number one, you really don't have situation as you did in '88 where you have one, clear, convincing unequivocal pro-family champion who comes out of the movement. There are a lot people vying for that title. I think Pat Buchanan has a got a very good shot at it after the Louisiana victory. Alan Keyes, Phil Gramm, I think is still in hunt. Bob Dole has 100 percent pro-life voting record. So people have spread themselves around the map. I think maybe if Dan Quayle would run, if somebody like a Pat Robertson would run, that might have happened, but it just simply didn't.

The second reason is because religious conservatives, I think, have grown in their maturity, in their political sophistication. They're now fully embedded in the machinery of the Republican Party. They're precinct chairman, they're county chairman, they're on the state central committee. They've now been involved for eight, 10 years and they're not novices anymore. They're battle seasoned, so there is a division in among the movement as to whether you should go with a pragmatic choice who can win or whether you go with the choice of your heart. And I think ultimately it's good to have that kind of debate.

SHAW: Here's a name for you - Steve Forbes. Evaluate him on the issues you and your group care most about.

REED: Well, I think Steve is somebody that I deeply admire. I think a lot of him. I think the reality is that he's running on a sort of single issue economic agenda, the flat tax. And a lot of religious conservatives are looking for more. They want a candidate who talks about a poverty of values.

SHAW: So Forbes is not your horse?

REED: Well, I don't think we have any horse in the race, Bernie. We've not anointed any candidate. I'm just saying that I think in order to win the nomination and win in November, whoever that person is, whether it's Bob Dole or Steve Forbes or Pat Buchanan, has got to talk about something other than just economic issues. They've got to talk about the culture, they've got to talk about the breakup of the family, they've got to talk about education, and I hope Steve will do that.

SHAW: What is this voter's guide in Iowa?

REED: Well, we are distributing, Bernie, 22 million voter guides in the Republican presidential primaries. About a quarter of a million of those will be distributed in Iowa. And we sent candidate questionnaires to every candidate, Republican candidate for president. They all responded. We cover about 10 or 15 issues from a balanced budget amendment to abortion to religious freedom to things like welfare reform and gun control. It's all on there so that voters know where the candidates stand. Those voter guides will be distributed in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, all over the country, at churches, synagogues, shopping centers and polling locations.

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SHAW: Let me scratch you a moment and get some blunt candor. I'm not looking for an endorsement. You've said your group doesn't do that. But at this point, which candidate best carries your banner of concern?

REED: Well, as I think I indicated at the outset, Bernie, I think there are a number of people vying for that and I'm not going to isolate my personal preference. I think Pat Buchanan because of his years on television, his years of political involvement, is clearly somebody who's going to get a lot of religious conservative support. But according to our internal surveys, the three main people who are getting the votes of Christian Coalition members are Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan and Phil Gramm.

SHAW: Well, one has to win your party's nomination. Would you be satisfied with either of the three?

REED: Well, we're not going to issue endorsement or state any preference in the fall either, Bernie. I do think that no matter who that individual is at the end of the day it's less important who the candidate is than it is what their message is. And the message that I would recommend to any candidate who's running is that ails America isn't just that it has a budget deficit or its taxes are too high, although that's certainly true. It's that its neighborhoods are not safe, its families are breaking up, its children are having children, and we have the highest illegitimacy rate in the entire Western world, and we need to address those moral issues.

SHAW: Lack quick question. You've shown obvious strength in caucus states. What about primary states?

REED: Well, I think it depends on where you are in the country, Bernie. I think in New Hampshire we're expecting about a quarter to a third of the vote to be religious conservative. Once you head south, particularly the Super Tuesday states - Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Florida, those kinds of states - you could be looking at anywhere between 55 and 65 percent of the entire Republican primary vote being self identified born-again evangelicals or pro-family Roman Catholics. That is a huge, huge factor that can't be ignored by anybody.

SHAW: I know you're rushing to catch a plane. Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition, thanks so much for your time, and I hope you make it.

REED: Thank you, Bernie. Good to be with you.

SHAW: My pleasure.

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