The Dobson way
An evangelical leader steps squarely into the political ring
A former professor at the University of Southern California School of Medicine (he has a Ph.D. in child development) and a veteran of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Dobson left medicine in 1977 to launch a California-based radio program. Today, it's translated into more than two dozen languages for what Focus estimates is an international audience of at least 200 million. On one recently taped show, Dobson encourages parents to talk to their kids about sex and sexuality before the onset of puberty. In his book Preparing for Adolescence , Dobson opines that masturbation, a controversial subject among traditionalist Christians, "is not much of an issue with God." And even as he is uncompromising on premarital abstinence (he writes that the most severe consequence of premarital sex is the "judgment of God in the life to come"), he emphasizes that it's never too late to reverse course to become a "secondary virgin."
His practical parenting wisdom has earned Dobson an overwhelmingly female listenership. "He's a Christian with similar values who was able to relate to the day-to-day world and give me practical things to use as a mother, like, 'Am I yelling at my daughter too much?' " says 45-year-old Elizabeth Melhorn of Selinsgrove, Pa., who listened to Dobson's program while raising two kids.
Political equity. When Dobson switches from self-help to public policy or politics mode on air, his listeners tend to regard him as a trusted adviser rather than a talking head or GOP shill. "I can't think of anyone with more equity . . . in a heartland state," Gary Bauer tells U.S. News . "If I go into South Dakota and say vote for [incoming Sen. John] Thune or against Daschle, people say, 'Of course he's going to say that--Bauer's a political operative.' When Dobson says it, he has impact."
Although much of Dobson's political power derives from his ability to connect with the grass roots, he is more plugged into Washington than he lets on. "I have a very close relationship with Jim," Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the Senate's No. 3 Republican, tells U.S. News . "I consider him a friend." Indeed, "his influence [in Washington] is huge," says Land, who is widely seen as closer to the White House than Dobson. "He may not be an insider, but he can shut down the phone lines in Congress."
Just after Election Day, he almost did, encouraging listeners to phone Congress to block Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter--who had warned Bush against judicial nominees who would overturn Roe --from assuming the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. Some Hill offices logged a thousand-plus calls from abortion opponents after Dobson's broadcast.
In a show of how disciplined and organized the Christian right's leadership has become, a recently formed coalition of powerful religious activists known as the Arlington Group convened a conference call during which its members--including Dobson--agreed that it would be wiser to straitjacket Specter than to derail him. Paul Weyrich, a conservative Christian activist who heads the Free Congress Foundation, says gaining the GOP support necessary to chasten Specter would have been impossible without the strong turnout among "values" voters on Election Day and victories by conservative Christian Senate candidates. "It showed the realization by the majority leader [and] other leaders of that committee," he says, "that you simply cannot give our coalition the finger."
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