President Obama might be a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination, but a primary challenger — in it purely to fight against abortion — kept him from sweeping the 45 Oklahoma delegates in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Activist Randall Terry, who is running in the Democratic primary to raise awareness for pro-life causes, garnered 18 percent of the vote and one delegate. Obama won the Oklahoma primary with 57 percent. There were four other candidates on the ballot besides Obama.
Prior to the vote, Terry told The Tulsa World that he was running largely to suppress votes for Obama and that even just winning 6 to 7 percent of the Oklahoma vote would “show the Democratic National Committee I can cause defections based solely on dead babies and Obama’s tyranny.”
Terry reiterated his mission to Life News Wednesday.
“My message was simple: Obama promotes the murder of babies by abortion, and is attacking the Church and religious liberty. Knowing this, a Christian cannot vote for him in good conscience,” Terry said.
According to Terry, he will be running against the President and bringing his message to six more states.
“Obama’s promotion of the murder of unborn babies could cost him the White House in 2012. I will run in at least 6 swing states, and be a voice for the babies who are dying under Obama’s policies,” he added. “If these numbers hold true in those states, the plight of the babies will cause Obama to lose the White House in 2012. How’s that for the most critical ‘social issue’ of our times being the driving force of an election? Obama’s promotion of murder is his Achilles heal.”
The New York Times reported that the Oklahoma State Democratic Party is unconcerned about Terry’s strong finish, attributing it largely to low turn out.
“I think that the reality is that the individuals in Oklahoma realize that the president is going to be our nominee,” Trav Robertson, interim executive director of the Oklahoma State Democratic committee, told the Times.
Conservative best seller Ann Coulter spoke at a fundraiser for Randall the weekend before the primary.
Coulter explained to The Daily Caller that she was demonstrating “solidarity with the pro-life movement,” but that if Terry were to beat Obama in the primary she “might be torn” between GOP front-runner Mitt Romney and Terry in the general election.