For the Republicans' 72-hour plan to work enough for Ken Blackwell to have even the slightest shot at upsetting Ted Strickland, Blackwell will have to get the biggest push from conservative churches. The most prominent is Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church in Columbus.
Churches are not allowed to directly endorse any candidate, but these are desperate times for Ohio Republicans and nothing would shock people who live here. We need to have people willing to go to these services on Sunday, armed with tape recorders, to make sure the Parsleys of Ohio don't cross the line and make sure they're held accountable if they do.
In the 2004 election, I had neighbor tell me he had gone to his church (not the Parsley one) and was lectured to by Zell Miller, Hannity and J.C. Watts about their duty to vote for Bush. It made my blood boil. That kind of stuff probably tipped the election to Bush. We must not let that happen again. It may be too difficult to organize a formal church watchdog list, but we do need to have to know what is said in the pulpits on Sunday.