Politicians looking for Christian vote

WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- Election-watchers say one way to defeat U.S. President Barack Obama in the 2012 election is to revive the evangelical political movement.

Declared Republican candidates for president and others hope to do just that in Washington during the weekend at a "conference and strategy session" organized by a group that bills itself as a 21st-century version of the Christian Coalition, The Washington Post reported.

"What's likely to happen is what a lot of us have wanted to see happen for a long time -- a social conservative movement that speaks to a broader set of issues but which never strays from the foundational issues of life and family and marriage," said political operative Ralph Reed, who in 1995 was dubbed by Time magazine as the "Right Hand of God."

Reed is head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, which organized the event. The group's Web site said Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Donald Trump and several other potential candidates are scheduled to appear.

Jim Daly, head of Colorado-based Focus on the Family, said Christian voters want more from their leaders.

"Christian leadership has become about the victory, and that's led to us becoming the predator and the world our prey. That's not very much a Christian doctrine," Daly said recently. "I'm very concerned about the politicization of the faith. I think being owned by a party is dangerous."