The other day I noted that the highly-publicized meeting of evangelicals coming up in Texas is unlikely to result in a consensus conservative candidate. Today I spoke with Ken Blackwell, executive vice president of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, who was invited to the meeting of conservative leaders, but will be in Israel when it takes place.
Blackwell, who watched South Carolina go for Dole in ’96 and McCain in ’08, sounded pessimistic and noticeably worried that conservatives would once again split their vote in South Carolina, telling me: “As an avid Perry supporter, if we do anything but show strong, our presence probably helps Romney, just as Fred Thompson’s presence helped McCain.”