Ralph Reed’s Rebound?: Fallen Fundamentalist Icon Hopes to Influence Upcoming Elections
As the November elections approach, it seems a second-tier advocacy group run by a disgraced Religious Right icon is gearing up to make a major impact.
Politico reported this week that Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Coalition (FFC) is planning an all-out blitz in states like Colorado, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, Louisiana and North Carolina in the hope that Republicans and can take control of the U.S. Senate.
You may remember Reed. He ran TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition throughout the 1990s. After leaving the group, he started a political consulting firm that became mired in the Jack Abramoff casino lobbying scandal. He also tried unsuccessfully to launch a political career and even wrote some political thrillers.
After those efforts flopped, Reed slunk back to the Religious Right. A few years ago, he formed the Faith & Freedom Coalition to push a fundamentalist agenda.
Politico reports that Reed has big plans for 2014.
His operation plans to “knock on roughly 500,000 doors” in key counties and distribute 20 million voter guides (which are surely biased) to some 117,000 churches. FFC will also send mailings to 6 million voters and make 10 million robocalls.
Reed also said he hopes to make a significant impact with a digital outreach, contacting 15 million “video viewers” through banner and video advertisements in several states. He told Politico he has a database of 33.1 million social conservatives, and expects to reach 6.2 million homes in battleground states.
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