Religious Right...Moving to the Children's Table?

I posted here last week that one of the redeeming qualities of the Rudy campaign is that it might just take the Religious Right down a few notches in the GOP. After Bush's re-election in 2004, especially after their anti-gay, bigot-baiting routine I had to live through here in Ohio, they were just about due for an attitude adjustment.

There's a short article in the paper this morning about how this may just be happening. There's early evidence on two fronts. First of all, none of the leading candidates felt compelled to show up at a somewhat-major conference of theirs earlier in the year. (One will note that the leaders felt similarly comfortable citing 'scheduling conflicts' as their reason for not showing up at Tavis Smiley's debate in September.)

The other thing I find interesting, as has come up before, is the modest amount of support that Rudy is getting from them. The Mayor's stats sheet is not what you would find on the typical Evangelical's dream centerfold candidate, but with the exception of nutball James Dobson, they're not organizing an all-out war on his candidacy as you might expect if they figured they had the capital to do so!

You gotta know when to hold 'em.