Evangelical leader urges prayer after US midterms

WASHINGTON – Republicans took back the House in a resounding victory while Democrats hung onto their majority in the Senate.

Now, following the results of the midterm elections, Christians are being urged to pray for their elected leaders.

“[F]irst things first. I will be on my knees, begging God to have mercy on this country and on His Church. And we should pray for our newly elected representatives and senators,” well-known evangelical leader Chuck Colson said.

Colson, the former top aide to President Richard Nixon, had announced last week, “We conservative evangelicals and Catholics need to acknowledge that we have no political home."

However, he created a digital home Tuesday for Christian conservatives amid the election night hysteria with video and text posts on his Colson Center blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Early in the night, Colson cheered on the victories of pro-life candidates. At 7:06 pm, he tweeted his glee for the Republican US Senate victories of Dan Coates of Indiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Colson wrote he was “surprised, but happy, pro-family Dr Rand Paul won by a margin of [20,000] votes so far”.

Indiana was the first state to go to the Republicans, a twist from President Barack Obama’s 2008 electoral triumph. On his blog, Colson says of the election, “One thing is already clear from the polls, campaign and clearly-expressed views of the American people: A line is being drawn in the sand. People are saying enough is enough.”

By 8:30 pm, the Republican had reclaimed the governorship in Florida and Senate victories in New Hampshire, Indiana, Kentucky and Florida. Projected Republican victories included Republican Veterans Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.

Kentucky US Senate seat winner Paul said the country had been hit by a “Tea Bag tidal wave” fuelled by angry Americans.

While Paul rode the Tea Party wave to victory, fellow Republican Christine O’Donnell was washed up in Delaware. Tea Party members were handed a huge loss with the projected win of Democratic contender Chris Coons over O’Donnell in the race to fill Vice President Joe Biden’s Delaware Senate seat.

In his blog, Colson said he was not surprised by O’Donnell’s loss. “She just didn’t show she had the capacity for political leadership,” he tweeted of O’Donnell. Colson also continued his rally cry for new leadership.

“There is as much allegiance to the Tea Party as the Republicans. No one candidate is emerging as a leader in what is clearly a resurgent conservative movement,“ he wrote.

Of the parties, Democratic and Republican, Colson praised the Tea Party for attempting to change the culture of Washington.

“The Tea Partiers get it. They’ve created a mass grassroots movement. Their voices are being heard,” he proclaimed.

However, Colson noted the conservative movement was still “too diffused and unclear.”

With a GOP win in the US House of Representatives, Tea Party members have made it clear that they plan to lead within the Republican Party. “The goal is not to pressure Republican leaders but to become the Republican leaders,” said Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, in a statement.

The party touts a plan it calls “Tea Party 2.0” aimed at revolutionising the party “from [the] precinct captain to [the] state chairman.”

“Now Tea Partiers have the power and the responsibility to rebuild the GOP into a party that represents mainstream working-class and small business class Americans,” said Viguerie.

Still, Tea Party members made no mention of its plan for pro-life, pro-traditional marriage efforts in their remarks.