{"id":3501,"date":"2010-07-02T11:11:38","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T16:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=3501"},"modified":"2010-07-02T11:11:38","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T16:11:38","slug":"50-leaders-of-the-evangelical-generation-36-ralph-reed-political-muscle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=3501","title":{"rendered":"50 leaders of the evangelical generation: #36 Ralph Reed. Political muscle"},"content":{"rendered":"

[I am working on a project that may become a book <\/span><\/a>on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they’ve had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]<\/em><\/p>\n

#36\u00a0 Ralph Reed. Political muscle \u00a0<\/strong>b.1961\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Ralph Reed is \u201cperhaps the finest political operative of his generation,\u201d[1]<\/span><\/a> and has certainly been the most bare-knuckled evangelical political brawler of the last 20 years. As executive director of the Christian Coalition (1989-1997), he built one of nation\u2019s most effective grassroots organizations and played a pivotal role in the election of the first Republican Congress in 40 years. Under his leadership, the organization grew from 2,000 over 2 million members and supporters in 3,000 local chapters.<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s departure from the Coalition to form his own consulting firm in Atlanta provided a vivid demonstration of the importance of leadership. \u00a0The group was never the same, and today it is a shell of the organization it was in its heyday. Reed went on to have a successful career as a political consultant to both corporations and candidates. He headed George W. Bush\u2019s southern campaign and transformed the Georgia Republican Party, building first-time Republican majorities in the State House and capturing the Governor\u2019s Mansion and both U.S. Senate seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reed made a run for public office, but he found that his work as a political operative and consultant involved associations and tactics that didn\u2019t bode well as a candidate. As one of the toughest of the modern political players, the ugly and risky strategies he used in high-profile political races did not look statesmanlike (or of a high ethical standard) in the bright light of a candidacy, and he was soundly defeated in the Georgia Republican primary for Lt. Governor in 2006.<\/p>\n

This surprised observers who had seen nothing but success from the the young wunderkind:<\/p>\n

Many thought \u201cthe young man who at 33 graced Time magazine\u2019s cover in 1995 as \u201cThe Right Hand of God\u201d might appear there again, perhaps a decade from now, taking the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Instead, there was Reed, just 45 but with crow\u2019s-feet carved gently into his temples, offering a meager group of supporters a curt concession speech in a hotel ballroom in Buckhead. He had lost the primary to a little-known state senator named Casey Cagle in a 12-point landslide, Reed\u2019s once invincible lead in the polls and fund raising eroded by a year of steady revelations about his ties to the convicted former G.O.P. superlobbyist Jack Abramoff. In the political vernacular that Reed loves to employ, he was waxed.\u201d[2]<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nonetheless, Reed remains one of the brightest and most sought-after political consultants in the nation and is extending his public voice through The Faith and Freedom Coalition<\/span><\/a> advocacy group, which he started in 2009. He also published an insightful political thriller called Dark Horse that demonstrated Reed\u2019s knowledge of both national politics and Christian conservatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/span><\/a> Wall Street Journal<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[2]<\/span><\/a> http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/magazine\/article\/0,9171,1218060,00.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they’ve had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?] #36\u00a0 Ralph Reed. Political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,13,10,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-conservative","category-jim","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}