WASHINGTON (AP) Hillary Rodham Clinton is the one figure uniting religious conservatives frustrated by a leaderless Republican Party that's divided over foreign policy, immigration and social issues.
The prospect of another Clinton White House stirred anguish at the Values Voter Summit this weekend where hundreds of conservative activists debated the GOP's future and warned that the acknowledged but unannounced 2016 Democratic front-runner would cement what they see as President Barack Obama's attack on religious freedom.
"Never forget she will be Barack Obama's third and fourth term as president," Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate in 2012, said Friday night.
She was among the high-profile Republicans, including past and prospective White House contenders, at the annual conference attended by some of the most prominent social conservatives and hosted by the Family Research Council, well known for its opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
This year's gathering expanded its focus to religious freedom or the persecution of Christians and their values at home and abroad. It was a message that GOP officials hope will help unify a fractured party and appeal to new voters ahead of November's elections and the next presidential contest.
But it was Clinton's name that was as much a rallying cry as the theme of religious liberty.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a prospective presidential candidate, challenged Clinton to "come and debate" Denver nuns who run nursing homes for the poor, called the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. The nuns have challenged the Obama health law's requirement that some religious-affiliated organizations provide insurance that includes birth control.
"She can do that and she can explain why we should be fighting nuns," Cruz told 750 social conservatives at a banquet in Des Moines on Saturday night, after saying much the same at the Washington gathering. Many in the Iowa crowd burst into laughter at Cruz's comment.
In Washington, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a once and perhaps future contender, described Clinton as "tenacious."
"She's got all the skills and would be an incredibly formidable candidate," Huckabee told reporters, suggesting that Clinton is politically vulnerable. "She's got to go out and defend Barack Obama and her record in the first four years she was secretary of state."
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Hillary Clinton uniting religious conservatives