Ralph Reed—the evangelical activist and politician with ties to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal—has been enlisted by the Romney campaign to court evangelical voters.
Reed, who Romney once celebrated as a “real champion in fighting for the fundamental values that has made this country what it is,” sent out mailers to evangelicals, suggesting President Obama’s policies are as much of a “threat to freedom” as Nazi Germany or the Civil War.
As msnbc’s Al Sharpton reported on Tuesday’s PoliticsNation, evangelicals make up 26 percent of the electorate. 73 percent of them voted for McCain in 2008, but evangelical and author Frank Schaeffer told Sharpton he doubts evangelicals will respond well to Reed’s tactics.
“I don’t think a lot of them will go for this. They know Ralph,” he said, adding it’s a last-ditch effort by the increasingly desperate Romney campaign. “Do they release Bernie Maddoff next to help raise money?”
Reed’s attempts are quite similar to the rest of the GOP’s get out the vote efforts, msnbc commentator Richard Wolffe said. “What he’s trying to do—if this mailer is any indication of his tactics—is to drive up not a reason to vote for Mitt Romney, but a reason to vote against President Obama,” Wolffe said. “That’s an interesting dynamic that I think the whole Republican get out the vote operation really hinges on.”
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