Oct 4, 2006 9:49 am US/Mountain
Dobson Urges Christians To Vote Their Values
Correction: This story originally referenced Rep. Mark Foley as a Democrat. He is a Republican. The AP ran a similar correction 3 hours after it first moved on the wire.
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
A prominent conservative Christian leader urged his supporters to vote according to their values on Election Day.
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, told an enthusiastic crowd of about 2,500 to 3,000 supporters Tuesday they should judge candidates based on their views about fighting terrorism, gay marriage and abortion.
"If you can find a politician who understands the institution of the family, who wants to protect children from immorality, who understands that we are at war with those who want to destroy us and who understand that liberal judges are undermining us and need to be reined in," Dobson said, "and if you can find a politician who lives by a strong moral code and believes in Jesus Christ ... if you can find such a person, it would be a sin not to vote for him."
He said he wasn't telling supporters whom they should vote for -- Focus on the Family can't legally do that with its nonprofit status -- but that he was urging them to be guided by their values when they vote.
Dobson also said he has been "very irritated and disappointed with the Republican Party" and that GOP candidates whom "values voters" helped elect in 2004 have "sat on their majorities and not used them productively."
He touched on the uproar over former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, who resigned Friday in a scandal over electronic messages he sent to former teenage male congressional pages.
"Neither party has a cornerstone on morality," he said.
Dobson's Colorado Springs, Colo.-based group is targeting its "Stand for the Family" campaign at Minnesota, Tennessee and Pennsylvania to mobilize evangelical Christian voters.
Tom Minnery, senior vice president for public policy at Focus on the Family Action, said Minnesota was chosen because of its legislative debate over the definition of marriage and the key U.S. Senate race between Republican Mark Kennedy and Democrat Amy Klobuchar.
"We're simply asking people to vote their values," Minnery said. "That's entirely appropriate to do."
About 300 advocates for the gay and lesbian community held their own rally across the street, calling for acceptance of same-sex families.
"We don't have a message of hate," said Ann DeGroot of OutFront Minnesota. "We have one of acceptance and tolerance, and understanding who all the families of Minnesota are."
A constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and its legal equivalents did not make it onto Minnesota's ballot. The amendment failed to get out of a Senate committee. That is something Minnery wants to change.
"I'd love to see it get on the ballot because if it does, without question, it will pass overwhelmingly," Minnery said. "These ballot measures passed in 20 states, 20 victories by substantial margins."
DeGroot agreed the fight isn't over.
"It means to us that we can't let our guard down, we have a lot of work to do," she said.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
