Right-wing cabal forms around '08 election

According to
USA Today,

Leaders of conservative Christian organizations plan to jointly interview Republican contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination, perhaps even endorsing one of them-steps that could expand their already considerable political influence.
"We'd like to try to stay together," Tony Perkins [above], president of the Family Research Council, said at a breakfast with reporters Wednesday. The ad hoc group includes "free thinkers" and "strong personalities," he says, but they might unite behind a candidate who "unquestionably" best represented their views and priorities.
Gary Bauer, president of American Values, said in an interview that the sit-down sessions, likely to begin after the 2006 elections, would be "a very effective way to nail down where people are on cultural issues." He said candidates have become "very astute" at answering written questionnaires in ways that avoid making firm commitments. Those who plan to participate include leading figures of the Christian right: James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, Perkins and Bauer. Others also would join them.
Their groups, which represent millions of social conservatives, have taken the lead in lobbying to restrict abortion, ban same-sex marriage and confirm conservative judges. Their top priority, Perkins said, is winning confirmation of conservative Supreme Court justices.
On the judicial filibuster compromise, Tony Perkins [also] said those who joined the so-called Gang of 14 risked "political repercussions."

Well, we can't say we haven't been warned

(photo by Patti Longmire, AP)