c. 1998 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Christian conservatives”could make the difference”for Alabama Gov. Fob James in his runoff showdown with Winton Blount, according to Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition director turned secular political consultant.”The Christian community must turn out in large numbers”for the June 30 Republican runoff between James and Blount, Reed told a meeting of some 70 evangelical ministers after the June 2 primary forced James into the runoff.

The James campaign is the most high-profile electoral contests the neophyte consultant has engaged in since leaving his post last September as head of the Christian Coalition, the most politically potent activist Christian organization.

The Alabama election has drawn national attention not only because it represents a test of Reed’s clout in secular political terms but also because of the high profile _ and controversial stands _ James has taken on such issues as restoring prayer to public schools and threatening to use the national guard to protect the posting of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse.”I don’t need to tell you that in God’s wisdom and planning, the eyes of America are going to be on Alabama on June 30,”Reed said.”You have here in Alabama a governor who … has taken the most courageous stand on behalf of the Ten Commandments, school prayer, religious freedom, the protection of unborn life and … the values that you and I share than almost any other governor in recent memory,”he added.

Reed told the audience his organization’s polling shows the runoff against Blount _ who has campaigned in part on the notion James’ stands are an embarrassment to the state _ to be very close.”It’s probably going to be decided by two, three or four points. And this (a strong Christian turnout) could make the difference,”Reed said.”In your pulpit on Sunday … you can encourage your people to go to the polls. It is their godly responsibility to exercise their rights of citizenship.” He also urged the ministers to lend their names to or participate in a news conference in the days before the runoff in which a number of prominent state religious leaders are set to endorse James’ candidacy.

Reed also asked the ministers to”make your pews”available to literature from various pro-family organizations detailing Blount’s and James’ stands on such issues as taxes, abortion and gambling.

During his administration, James has championed causes important to Christian conservatives. He has supported school prayer in DeKalb County public schools, where a federal judge has ordered monitors to assure the schools do not breach the church-state wall. He also backed Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore’s posting of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

James has also argued federal courts have no lawful basis for getting involved in these matters.

Before the June 2 Republican primary, in which he received 48 percent of the vote to Blount’s 41 percent, James’ stands on religious freedom issues brought him support from a number of nationally prominent Christian conservatives, including religious broadcaster and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association.

Reed cited those endorsements in his remarks and said”the liberal media and the big city newspapers”were giving”a number of reasons”for opposing James. “But we all know what the real reason is,”he said.”The real reason is because he’s a conservative Christian who stood up for those values and (is) not going to retreat on them.” Afterward, Reed said,”What you see in that room right there is the kind of energy and electricity of a winning campaign. The people in this room and the hundreds of thousands they represent are tired of Gov. James being attacked for taking a common sense stand on behalf of religious freedom and they’re going to make their voices heard on June 30, and I think in huge numbers.” Besides working for James’ campaign, Reed’s agency, Century Strategies, is doing campaign work in Alabama for GOP lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Steve Windom and for U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby.

DEA END GORDON