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John McCain faces a big test with his party\u2019s activist base today when he makes his first appearance before the Council for National Policy, a coalition of hundreds of conservative activists that includes such prominent names as Focus on the Family\u2019s James Dobson. It was at a Council for National Policy meeting last fall that Dobson and others voiced support for a plan to back a third-party candidate for president should Rudy Giuliani have gotten the Republican nomination.\nMcCain\u2019s liaison to the conservative Christian world, longtime Liberty University debate coach Brett O\u2019Donnell, says McCain\u2019s speech before the CNP will emphasize the Senator\u2019s vision for reigning in \u201ctaxes and spending, winning the war against radical Islam, judges, and the life issue.\u201d
\n\u201cThere are all things he discusses everywhere,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said in a phone interview on Thursday, as he waited to board a plane to New Orleans, site of today\u2019s CNP powwow. \u201cWe\u2019re not delivering any special message at this meeting. It will be the same message that has been delivered to many audiences.\u201d
\nMany CNP activists, meanwhile, will be looking for signs that the maverick with whom they have long had tense relations takes their support seriously. \u201cI want to see some evidence that John McCain has changed,\u201d says Patrick Henry College chancellor Michael Farris, who has attended past Council for National Policy meetings. \u201cHe has made it pretty clear in the past and even in this cycle that when Christian leaders want to meet with him and hear his views, he won\u2019t come. There\u2019s only one way for me to read that.\u201d
\n\u201cI need to see that he\u2019s pro-life,\u201d Farris continued. \u201cSomebody that doesn\u2019t support the Human Life Amendment is not really pro-life because the net result is that you think it should be up to states whether or not babies are killed. Somebody who believes in the sanctity of human life believes that babies everywhere should be protected.\u201d
\nMcCain\u2019s campaign web site says he supports overturning Roe v. Wade and notes that such a decision from the Supreme Court would return the issue of abortion to the states. The site doesn\u2019t mention the Human Life Amendment.
\nKelly Shackelford, a Texas-based evangelical activist who leads a group associated with Focus on the Family, said he was planning on supporting McCain but that the Senator would have to emphasize so-called values issues if he expected grassroots social conservatives to promote his candidacy. \u201cIf Huckabee was in the race, those values issues would be presented and the contrast between the Democrats would be laid out,\u201d Shackelford said. \u201cWill McCain push those issues? Nobody knows for sure if he will. In Texas, all the political leaders\u2014the governor and senators\u2014endorsed McCain, but every single pro-family grassroots leader endorsed Huckabee. There was a huge divide.\u201d
\nThe McCain camp\u2019s O\u2019Donnell, whose official title is Director of Messaging, says much of the skepticism among conservative Christian activists is due to lack of understanding. \u201cThere are a lot of misperceptions on his stands on the issues\u2014a lot of folks aren\u2019t even familiar with his life record, and it\u2019s a 25-year pro-life record,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cHe has promised to appoint strict constructionist that won\u2019t legislate from the bench. And the issue for everybody is the war against Islamic extremism.\u201d
\n\u201cLots of the concern that folks have are concerns not about the issues but based on personality, and once they\u2019ve had a chance to talk with [McCain] and listen to him, he has a great amount of success. We\u2019ve been putting together what we call \u2018family issue leaders\u2019 for McCain in every early voting state, from pastors to priests to crisis pregnancy leaders to pro-life leaders. We\u2019ve had a good amount of success.\u201d
\nAsked if the campaign has made contact with Focus on the Family\u2019s Dobson, who issued a scathing statement last month about why he won\u2019t support McCain, O\u2019Donnell said no. But O\u2019Donnell also said that the campaign would welcome communication from Dobson. \u201cThe Senator has always believed in the principle of redemption and rapprochement. That\u2019s is what happened between him and Dr. [Jerry] Falwell\u2014Dr. Falwell went to him and said, \u2018We need to put our differences aside\u2019 and the Senator was very proud of that.\u201d
\n\u201cSo I can\u2019t imagine if Dr. Dobson said, \u2018I want to meet with you and I want to work out our differences,\u201d that the Senator would not be open to that,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cI\u2019m very hopeful that we\u2019ll have great support from those who listen to Dr. Dobson.\u201d
\nA spokesman for Focus on the Family, Gary Schneeberger, declined to comment, other than to say, \u201cThank you for passing this information along.\u201d<\/p>\n