The End of the Religious Conservative

We paid a lot of attention to the evangelical right when they were winning. As John McCain makes his way toward the GOP nomination, never-drop-out Huckabee, who has positioned himself as the emblem of the religious right, wins in Southern states. What the Chirstian right is discovering is that they don't have quite as much power within the party as they thought they did.

Obviously, McCain will be courting conservatives as he moves forward, but what Hucabee's candidacy shows is that evangelical conservatives are a marginal group. They staunchly support someone who they thing represents their values, but that person doesn't even pass the party-wide primary, let alone the national election.

What Bush's candidacy was seems to be a fluke. He was both on the in with the old party leaders (thanks in part to his dad) and on the in with the Christians. In 2000 and 2004 the stars were aligned for the religious conservatives. This year, they're not going to get the candidate they want. So does this mean the power of the religious conservative is over?