Signs of waning evangelical power in the nation's culture wars and in Republican policy — and some unexpected challenges for GOP candidates — loom as the 103-year-old Boy Scouts of America gears up for a definitive vote this week on whether to welcome openly gay youths into the organization's ranks.
After South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson's embrace of gay marriage last week, activists who have made the issue a litmus test for Democratic Party officeholders are cranking up the heat on the three remaining holdouts among Democrats in the Senate.
Evangelical organizers from as far away as California have been quietly mining Ohio pastors and their pews for evangelical voters, hoping to tip the election Mitt Romney's way, just as they did for President George W. Bush in 2004.
Economic issues seem to be dominating the 2012 campaign, but a quiet electoral revolution is brewing. The "religious vote" is on the move, and it's not going leftward.
President Barack Obama delighted his liberal base by coming down on the side of gay marriage, but he cheered the opposition, too.
Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:
Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:
He's still a force to be reckoned with as tax day looms: Herman Cain has arrived in the nation's capital for a "patriot's summit" and tax day rally Monday at the U.S. Capitol with a cast that includes Faith & Freedom Coalition Director Ralph Reed, Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips and conservative activist Alveda King.
Appearing ever-more confident in Wisconsin's primary, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney focused entirely on Democratic President Barack Obama during a campaign trip through this upper Midwestern battleground and predicted a victory that could effectively seal the nomination for him Tuesday.
