Watching the giddiness of top-tier Christian Right leaders for Fred Thompson steadily wane in the two weeks since he officially entered the race, God-o-Meter’s needle has ticked further downward with each passing day. This morning, with news of a leaked email from Focus on the Family founder and evangelical political powerbroker James Dobson saying he won’t support Thompson, the needle lands with a thud at 2, its lowest reading for any candidate at any point so far.
“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won’t talk at all about what he believes, and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote in a private email to conservative activists that was obtained by the Associated Press. “…And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”
Thompson and Dobson’s relationship got off to a rocky start when Dobson said of the former Tennessee Senator this March, “I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression.” Still, Thompson had hired well-known Christian activists, including the conservative outreach director for former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and the head of the conservative Catholic group Fidelis, to help land endorsements from the likes of Dobson. Still banking on support in the evangelical-rich Deep South, God-o-Meter wonders if Thompson will pick up support from any big-name evangelical leaders besides fellow Tennesseean and Southern Baptist Convention public policy chief Richard Land.

2