One was pro-life.  As a legislator, the other voted consistently for abortion (including partial-birth abortion). One candidate supported the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution, the other opposed it – as he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

One candidate opposed the horror of embryonic stem-cell research, which destroys unborn children for hypothetical medical benefits, the other supported it enthusiastically and even campaigned on the issue.

One candidate supported keeping God in the Pledge of Allegiance, the other took no position on the matter. One candidate said judges should remain true to the original intent of the Constitution’s framers. The other supported an expansive view of the Constitution (in other words – legislating from the bench).

The pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith candidate won – with the largest popular vote in history. The other candidate was soundly defeated.

I wonder when Hollywood, the news media and the political establishment will get the message of the 2004 election; The American people reject their values – emphatically, decisively and overwhelmingly.

MARRIAGE AMENDMENTS

It wasn’t even close. Yesterday, 11 states voted on marriage amendments to their state constitution. Every one of them passed, by votes ranging from 56% (Oregon) to 85% (Mississippi). In the Midwest and South, West Coast and Mountain States, voters overwhelmingly endorsed traditional marriage.

Activists collected millions of signatures to qualify these amendments. The contests were hard-fought.

In Ohio (whose amendment banned civil unions and so-called domestic partnerships, as well as homosexual marriage), the entire political establishment – including Ohio’s two Republican senators, most media outlets and academia -- opposed the marriage amendment. The measure passed by a vote of 62%, in a state that the president carried by only 51%.

As of today, a total of 41 states have defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, either constitutionally or by statute. (Missouri and Louisiana passed marriage amendments earlier this year.) This is far more than the three-quarters of states needed to ratify an amendment to the United States Constitution.

Still, homosexual “marriage” was forced on Massachusetts by judicial fiat. Vermont’s legislature adopted civil unions under a judicial mandate. The foregoing notwithstanding, the federal courts could devise a way to establish gay marriage nationally.

The president and pro-family legislators must use yesterday’s votes as a mandate for the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), which they most certainly were.

This year, a vote on the FMA was blocked in the Senate. While it had the support of a majority of House members, it failed to get the two-thirds vote required for passage.

Along with House and Senate leadership, President Bush, who campaigned for the marriage amendment, should bring the FMA up for a vote in both chambers early next year.

The people have spoken. Washington must listen.

THE ROAD AHEAD

We’ve passed a milestone. But our work has just begun.

This election proved our effectiveness in mobilizing Christian voters. Due to the exertions of you and millions like you, there was no repeat of 2000, when 5 million evangelicals stayed home.

This time, evangelicals went to the polls en mass. Their presence is reflected in everything from the results of political campaigns to referenda questions. (As well as the 11 state marriage amendments, parental notification passed in Florida.)

But the enemy isn’t giving up. If anything, they’ll be back in two years with renewed vigor. We must be too.

In the meantime, other battles confront us. Liberal casuists will spare no effort to block pro-family, pro-morality candidates for the federal courts. Our effort this year must be duplicated here.

Over the next four years, 3 or 4 members of the United States Supreme Court will retire. Their replacements will determine the direction of the court for decades to come. The President will serve another four years. A Supreme Court justice in his 50s could serve for 30 years.

We must mobilize to persuade the president to nominate judges who reflect our values and vision, then fight for their confirmation.

I have no doubt we’ll succeed. God has brought us this far. By proving ourselves worthy -- and with His help -- we will make this one nation under God, once again.