Christianist Third Party Possibilities

I agree with Mr. Matthew Yglesias here. It is my half-cocked opinion that pressure groups and special interest groups value their role as kingmakers more than they do as policy influencers (not an actual word, I know). The power (and money) they get from their supporters comes from their ability to get their chosen politicians to heel. Pro-choice cross-dressing serial cheaters/divorcees who win Republican presidential nominations obviously aren't counting on the fundamentalist vote, and if one Republican can win without them, it opens up the floodgates for all Republicans to win without them. Though this would hardly render them powerless in the future, it would prove once and for all that it is not necessary to kowtow to them to win, making them simply one more chattering voice in a crowd of them, instead of the all-important Leviathan they built themselves into over the years. Judging from the grassroots popularity of McCain in 2000, there might be a lot of Republicans who would like to boot the fundy vote if they could. Not that this will help the Republican party for the time being-losing that voting bloc will derail their party for a long time to come.

From another angle, it would seem that Rudy's Clash-of-Civilizations-Crusades nuttery isn't appeasing the Christianists, which would be his best hope of making them happy.