God-o-Meter notes that McCain just picked up a conservative Christian endorsement, tepid though it is:
Royce, for her part, said she’s not actively working to promote McCain and that she respects other activists’ decision to oppose him. Her rationale for endorsing: “All the evidence shows that he’s going to be the nominee, and in my judgment the next president is going to have to deal with two major issues: national security and judges. And while my entire history is in life and marriage and those things still matter very much to me, if the choice is between McCain, Obama, or Clinton, I will vote for McCain.”
Not exactly a rousing vote of confidence. And Royce says the Arizona Senator still has plenty of work to do. “He is reaching out to the pro-family movement, and he needs to,” Royce says. “There is some concern with his vote on stem cells, which is troublesome.”
Royce also notes that there is still precious little consensus among evangelical activists about what to do in this election cycle. She describes three major camps at the moment: pro-McCain, pro-Mike Huckabee but likely to come to McCain’s side in time, and anti-McCain at all costs, even once he gets the nomination. “In the general election, when the differences are quite stark, you will see more consensus,” Royce says. McCain better hope so. God-o-Meter expects “more consensus” but not necessarily enough to get out the GOP base and put McCain in the White House.
Everyone is pretty much on the same page here. McCain has to reach out if he wants our support and with Obama as the candidate, he won’t get as much independent and moderate support as some may think he’ll get. Not enough to overcome a mass sit-this-one-out by the Christians.