[Mb-civic] From a Conservative, a Lack Of Compassion for Ralph Reed- Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

 From a Conservative, a Lack Of Compassion for Ralph Reed
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By Thomas B. Edsall and Dan Balz
The Washington Post
Sunday, March 26, 2006; A05

Ralph Reed, candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor and former 
executive director of the Christian Coalition, has a standard line when 
opponents link him to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "The Democrats, 
radical left, and dominant media have made numerous unfair personal 
attacks against Ralph," his Web site declares.

Lately, however, it's becoming harder for Reed to dismiss his critics as 
ideologically motivated. One of the toughest is Marvin Olasky, a close 
associate of President Bush who helped developed the administration's 
faith-based initiative and the concept of "compassionate conservatism."

Olasky, a journalism professor at the University of Texas, is editor in 
chief of World magazine, the mission of which "is to glorify God and 
enjoy Him forever." Since Nov. 19, World has run 10 articles and essays 
describing the $4 million in gambling money Abramoff paid to Reed to 
lobby against casinos competing with Abramoff's clients. The articles 
have highlighted incriminating e-mails and other disclosures that have 
raised doubts about Reed's explanations of his activities.

Reed, Olasky wrote March 4, "has damaged Christian political work by 
confirming for some the stereotype that evangelicals are easily 
manipulated and that evangelical leaders use moral issues to line their 
own pockets."

On Feb. 6, Reed wrote Olasky to say he was " very disappointed that 
WORLD would repeat false and politically-motivated attacks by liberal 
groups in Texas."

In language similar to his campaign stump responses, Reed said: "Had I 
known then what I know now, I would not have undertaken the work. On 
reflection, I should have declined the work and I regret any difficulty 
it has caused the pro-family community, for which I have accepted full 
responsibility. . . . What I do not appreciate and what I am confident 
your readers will reject is an unfair attempt by the media to engage in 
guilt by association."

Some polling data have been published in Georgia indicating that the 
Abramoff scandal has hurt Reed's first bid for elective office. Most 
recently, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cited a survey suggesting 
that if Reed wins the Republican nomination, his presence could weaken 
support for the reelection of Gov. Sonny Perdue (R).

When 500 Republicans were asked whether the presence of Reed on a ticket 
with Perdue would increase or decrease their likelihood of voting for 
the Republican governor, 18 percent said it would improve the chances, 
while 26 percent said it would diminish the prospect of voting for 
Perdue, a net eight-point negative, the newspaper reported.

MoveOn to Stoke House Races

One of the biggest obstacles facing Democrats in their quest to capture 
control of the House in November is the relatively limited number of 
competitive seats. MoveOn.org, the liberal grass-roots activist 
organization, hopes to help make the playing field bigger.

Beginning in April, MoveOn will begin bombarding five congressional 
districts with advertising campaigns aimed at turning second-tier 
targets into competitive contests, all with the goal of generating the 
kind of anti-incumbent sentiment that will topple the Republican majority.

"If we can put enough districts in play that [analysts] say the House is 
up for grabs, that will open the floodgate in terms of energy from our 
members and in terms of money from donors who otherwise might be 
reticent to give to many different races," said Eli Pariser, executive 
director of MoveOn's political action committee. "The earlier that we 
can flip that switch where someone says that, the better off we believe 
we are in terms of the amount of energy that people are going to put 
into the election."

Pariser won't say which five districts will draw the initial 
advertising, only that the commercials will attempt to connect a local 
House member's votes to sentiment that lobbyists and corporate interests 
have too much sway with the current Congress. Nor will Pariser say 
whether MoveOn will seek to go into additional districts if the first 
ads prove successful.

MoveOn's PAC has become one of the largest collectors of so-called 
hard-dollar contributions in the country. In the 2004 cycle, the group 
raised about $30 million, putting it behind Emily's List but ahead of 
any number of other well-known interest groups on the left and right. 
Last year, the organization raised $10 million, and this year has set a 
goal of $15 million to $20 million. Some of that will be used for ads, 
some for voter mobilization, some for direct contributions.

The ads will run at what Pariser called "near saturation" level, with 
interruptions, for a period of about three months. "Realistically, we're 
not going to single-handedly create a change election," Pariser said. "I 
think we can play a role in tipping a number of close races and helping 
to make sure that as we move closer to the election that the right 
issues are on voters' minds."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500815.html?nav=hcmodule
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