We all know the outlines of the story. Alarmed by the increasing likelihood that Mitt Romney would top the GOP ticket for 2012, several conservative evangelical leaders — James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, Donald Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, and Gary Bauer, former president of the Family Research Council — hosted a meeting of the evangelical old guard at the home of Judge Paul Pressler in Texas. Before the meeting, invitees were asked by Wildmon whether, if the group coalesced around a particular candidate, they would be willing to put aside their individual preferences and support the candidate that emerged. Each of the remaining candidates had a surrogate who made his case. After several rounds of voting, the group voted 85-29 to support former Senator Rick Santorum.
All attendees were to refrain from commenting on the meeting for 24 hours afterward. Tony Perkins — whom I like, by the way — was designated as the group’s spokesperson. Let’s review what has happened since then:
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