Sen. Rick Santorum has added a number of endorsements to his total following an evangelical meeting in Texas last week. John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Action officially switched his endorsement from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to Santorum, the New York Times reports.
After the meeting ended on Saturday, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council said members were forming a coalition behind Santorum in the hopes that he could stop frontrunner Mitt Romney.
However, four evangelical leaders stated that the reported vote of 85 to 29 in favor of supporting Santorum was misleading, as they said many Gingrich supporters had left the conference before the vote took place.
“While we truly respect both Rick Santorum and Rick Perry, we believe Newt Gingrich to be the only candidate that has the intellectual strength and the capacity to stop the left’s attack on morality, the economy, basic freedoms and our religious liberty,” said J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman; George Barna, a prominent Christian political analyst; the Rev. Jim Garlow, a leader of the campaign against same-sex marriage; and Richard Lee, a prominent Baptist pastor in Atlanta in a statement, the New York Times reported.
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