Adele M. Stan is a regular contributor to IntellectualCapital.com. She is the Washington correspondent for Working Woman magazine.

In the context of Iowa caucus politics, where religious conservatives hold considerable sway, it was a brilliant stroke. When asked by Des Moines newsman John Bachman to name his favorite philosopher in this week's Republican presidential forum, Texas Gov. George W. Bush answered, "Christ ¿ because he changed my heart." In one fell swoop, he disarmed his competitors, and perhaps obscured an unfamiliarity with the giants of the Western academic canon. Suddenly, the dialogue turned from the subject of the candidate's intellectual prowess (or lack thereof) to an outright pitch to one of Iowa's most important voting blocs.

They're back

Did Ralph Reed say too much?

In the media coverage of the presidential, the religious right has generated little note so far, as its leaders wisely shun the spotlight. The mainstream media have never been comfortable reporting on the religious right, so unless its leaders are out there making big noises, reporters generally ignore them despitethe power they continue to wield within the GOP. Because of this informal pact, Bush has done remarkably well at positioning himself as a centrist candidate, even as Ralph Reed, the former executive director of Rev. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, toils in the employ of the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Until recently, Reed's involvement with the Bush campaign has largely stayed off the media's radar screens. Then Reed inadvertently blew the whistle on himself in his comments to Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard.

Contemplating the possibility that Bush's main challenger for the nomination, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), could win New Hampshire's all-important first-in-the-nation primary, Reed purportedly told Kristol that he could easily stop McCain in the South Carolina primary, which takes place a week after New Hamphire's -- and is generally seen as essential to McCain in order to maintain the momentum of his campaign. Reed is currently organizing Bush's voter turnout operation in that state. According to Kristol on ABC's "This Week." Reed explained, "We've got Pat Robertson in reserve." Robertson, said Reed, will endorse Bush after the New Hampshire primary, and then "go negative" on McCain in South Carolina, if necessary.

Risky business

It is a strategy that worked for Robertson and Reed once before. In 1996, after Pat Buchanan doused Robertson's man, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, in the New Hampshire presidential primary, they stepped in. Together with Christian Coalition ally David Beasley (R), who was South Carolina's governor at the time, Reed and Robertson built a firewall in South Carolina that virtually stopped the Buchanan juggernaut. But in our booming economy, the 2000 race differs significantly from that of 1996, and John McCain, war hero, is a far more serious candidate than Buchanan ever was. If anything, a Robertson attack on McCain may ultimately hurt the Christian Coalition more than it hurts the candidacy of McCain. And come the general election, Robertson's outing of himself as an influential Bush backer will only aid the Democratic nominee, whether it be Al Gore or Bill Bradley.

McCain's positioning of himself as a maverick vis-a-vis his advocacy of campaign-finance reform is genius: that is, while his rhetoric about "special interests" threatens the leaders of the right, it does not necessarily play poorly on the ground. The foot soldiers of the religious right are known for their distrust of government, so a guy who promises to end the sell-out of Washington is likely to win some of their hearts, despite what their political leaders say. Meanwhile, on the issues that truly matter to Robertson's followers -- abortion, gay rights and other "culture war" matters -- McCain is in virtual lockstep with them. Add to that the candidate's unchallengable patriotism as a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, and you have a contender who holds the potential to divide the religious right.

Short memories

Robertson and Reed seem to have forgotten the experience of the 1996 Iowa caucuses, when Buchanan nearly upset Dole. Robertson had pulled out all the stops, installing high-level Christian Coalition organizers in the Dole effort. But Buchanan had his own support from the Christian Coalition. Busloads of Coalition members poured into Buchanan's Iowa headquarters to man his phones at the instigation of a regional organizer in Michigan who was more interested in electing a true believer than in being a kingmaker. And that is what Robertson so often forgets -- unlike him, his people are driven more by their religious beliefs and cultural wounds than by a lust for power.

As he vies for the votes of conservative Christians with the tale of his own conversion, Bush faces another challenge from a different faction of the religious right. Robertson has long held an uneasy peace with Dr. James Dobson, the mogul of the Focus on the Family empire. Now, however, Dobson has his own surrogate in the race -- Gary Bauer, who, until he entered the presidential race, ran the Family Research Council, an offshoot of Dobson's right-wing conglomerate. In recent debates, Bauer has made a sport of chipping away at Bush's right-wing credentials, particularly on the subject of abortion. If Bauer continues on this track, even a Bush who wins the nomination will find himself wounded on both sides: Bauer's attacks will scare off some of the far right and Robertson's embrace will frighten the middle.

As the titans of the religious right make their respective grabs for power, the American people would be wise to take note as the holier-than-thou expose their true motivations in the dirty business of politics. As it says in the Bible, "By their works ye shall know them."