OXON HILL, Md. - Some of the GOP’s most prominent conservatives insisted Friday that Republicans should emphasize hot-button social issues such as abortion and gay marriage in this year’s midterm elections, exposing an ideological divide within a party trying to capture the Senate, then the White House.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist pastor, set the tone early in the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“If this nation forgets our God, then God will have every right to forget us,” Huckabee said to cheers. “It’s time for government to scale back, not for people of faith to scale back.”
The day also featured Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who, like Huckabee, have run past presidential campaigns fueled in part by support from religious voters.
But Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the final speakers of the day, represents a new generation of libertarian-minded Republicans less likely to oppose gay marriage or embrace laws allowing the government to affect people’s private lives.
“There’s a great battle going on. It’s for the heart and soul of America,” Paul told a swelling crowd, focusing on civil liberties instead of social issues. “You may think I’m talking about electing Republicans. I’m not. I’m talking about electing lovers of liberty.”
Perry avoided social issues in his remarks, instead criticizing Democratic governors for leading states with higher taxes, more regulations and fewer jobs. He also suggested that Washington politicians in both parties have seized too much power and it’s time to elect “the right kind of leaders.”
Huckabee, who is weighing a presidential campaign in 2016, also strayed from social issues, saying the United States’ standing in the world has diminished under President Barack Obama, and its next leader faces a tough task in rebuilding America’s might.
The former governor said the United States has reduced its military power and other nations have taken advantage of it. As a result, he said, Russian President Vladimir Putin only shakes when he takes his shirt off in the Russian winter but not when Washington threatens him.
“No one trusts us. No one listens to us. No one respects us. No one fears us,” Huckabee said.
Still, the day’s speaking program was dominated by social conservatives, such as former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, who offered little tolerance for Republicans who “lack the courage to stand and fight” against gay marriage and abortion rights.
“I have a message for these profiles in cowardice who often display the backbone of a chocolate eclair and cave the minute they’re criticized,” Reed said. “We’re not going to follow lukewarm so-called leaders any more whose god is their ambition, whose idol is power.”
The ideological tug of war played out a few miles from Washington at the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservative activists, where most of the prospective 2016Republican presidential field will have taken the stage by the end of the three-day gathering today.
National Republican leaders are working to expand the GOP’s appeal after a disappointing 2012 election season, which illustrated the risks for Republican candidates who focus on social issues.
In the 2012 race, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Todd Aiken said pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” are rare. In Indiana, Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
Both candidates lost, hurting the GOP’s most recent drive for the Senate majority.
But Santorum insisted that Republicans not abandon conservative values.
“We’re told we have to put aside what we believe is in the best interests of the country so a Republican candidate can win,” Santorum said. Victory on those terms would be “a devastating loss for America,” he said
But in the crowded hallways outside the main ballroom, a younger generation of libertarian-minded Republicans said the GOP should focus on the economy and avoid the culture wars of the past.
“The social issues should be kept to the states, and even at the state level it shouldn’t be a big focus,” said Kyle Brooks, 18, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and secretary of the College Republicans there.
Paul was a favorite of such voters, many of whom had backed his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian.
“I don’t think the government should be involved in dictating how we live our lives,” said Chris Anders, 42, the West Virginia state coordinator for Campaign for Liberty, a political group formed from the ashes of Ron Paul’s past presidential campaigns.
Across the river in Washington, Democrats were paying close attention.
Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Czin said that “conservatives are doubling down on the same divisive social issues that alienated voters year after year.” Information for this article was contributed by Michael Mishak and staff members of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/08/2014