By Warren Cole Smith
EP News - Family Research Council Tony Perkins said, "It's obviously an outstanding choice. Very smart. Very strategic. Those who might have voted for Obama only because they wanted to be a part of something historic can now vote for the Republicans for the same reason."

Richard Viguerie, the conservative icon who has been brutally critical of McCain, was even more effusive, "She's perfect."

Setting aside the doctrine of original sin for a moment, religious conservatives do think the selection of Sarah Palin as the vice presidential candidate is pretty near perfect. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, was not the only person to observe that she was "straight out of veep central casting." She's active in an evangelical church. She has five children, including one with Down's Syndrome that she chose to give birth to even though she knew the child would be a Down's baby. And, of course, she's a woman.

Even Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who made national headlines when he said he could not support McCain "under any circumstances" admitted that this was a circumstance that he did not think was possible. Sources close to Dobson told EP News that in a private meeting on the afternoon of the Palin announcement he said he would reconsider his position on McCain.

Dobson called Palin "a genuine reformer. A deeply committed Christian." On a special Focus Action radio broadcast, Dobson said Palin has helped change his mind on McCain. "If I went into the polling booth today, I would pull the lever for John McCain," he said. Dobson applauded the Republican Party's strong platform plank against destructive embryonic stem-cell research, which uses much stronger language than in years past.

The broadcast also featured Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins, Kelly Shackelford and Tom Minnery, who expressed unanimous support for McCain and Palin. "I don't remember this kind of electric moment since I went to the inauguration of Ronald Reagan," Dobson said.

Gary Bauer was already one of McCain's most enthusiastic supporters, so it is no surprise that he called the selection a "grand slam home run" that is "guaranteed to energize values voters." It apparently did just that. Senior officials at the Republican National Committee said that in the hours after the Palin announcement, more than $3-million was donated on-line to the McCain campaign.