Da Base

The media has been questioning for some months now whether John McCain would be able to pull the GOP base together.

Evangelicals have been indispensable to Republican presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan in 1980 and were key to George W. Bush’s White House wins.

While it's not clear if McCain can pull the religious right under the tent, the party has found someone who can.

But many are lukewarm about John McCain, who denounced religious right leaders in 2000 and has struggled to win evangelical support this year.

They've found someone powerful and inspiring enough to get them to support the eclectic and unpredictable McCain.

In the audience (at the Texas Republican Party Convention), Kenneth Kidd mulled his party’s prospects in November.

“We’re going to support McCain,” he said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “He may not have been all of our first choice, but he is our choice.”

That man is Barack Obama.

“I’m going to support McCain and try to help people see the reality of the total picture and how dangerous Barack Obama is,” said state Sen. Dan Patrick, a conservative talk-radio host with a strong evangelical following. “There is no other choice.”