As we noted back in 2008, every election season sees a return of the so-called “Restoration Projects,” supposedly nonpartisan events that are, in reality, aimed a mobilizing pastors to get their flocks to the polls on Election Day.
Well, as Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News reports, the Restoration Project is back once again and is heading to Nevada where David Barton, Newt Gingrich, and the American Family Association are hoping to help Sharron Angle defeat Harry Reid:
Four years ago, Rick Perry cultivated a network of conservative pastors – the Texas Restoration Project – to scare off Kay Bailey Hutchison in the primary and to help win reelection. The project has pretty much fallen off the political radar in Texas since then. This year, the energy on the right is from the tea party – which is focusing on fiscal themes, not the social issues of abortion and gay marriage . Now, the Texas-tinged event has emerged in a most unlikely place – Las Vegas. Next month, Christian historian David Barton of Aledo and the Rev. Laurence White of Houston are headlining a “Nevada Renewal Project” event in Las Vegas. Both were regulars at Texas Restoration events. The keynote speaker will be Newt Gingrich.
The Nevada event is nonpartisan, but appears aimed at helping Republican tea-party favorite Sharon Angle against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in one of the country’s hottest Senate races. Polls indicate the race is close. An email by American Family Association chief Tim Wildmon inviting pastors to the two-day event suggested which side it’s on: “At a time when Congress is buy trying to legislative defeat … the Nevada event is aimed at energizing pastors “to help them and their congregations engage in the battle.”
