http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8264516.stmUS Christian conservatives 'defiant'
By Paul Adams
BBC News, Washington
Anyone who thought that "values voters" were still licking their wounds after the Republican Party received a drubbing at the polls might have found the atmosphere in Washington's plush Omni Shoreham Hotel rather surprising.
An audience of 2,000 Christian conservatives gathered to listen to their political and media icons, condemn the Obama administation's alleged socialist agenda and plot the downfall of the Democrats at the 2010 mid-term elections.
The mood was angry and defiant at the annual "Values Voters Summit", which kicked off with a rousing call to arms from Republican
Congressman Mike Pence, from Indiana, a man some see as a future presidential candidate.
He spoke of a "great American awakening", while another Congressman, Tom Price of Georgia, spoke of lighting "bushfires of freedom", to roars of excited approval from the floor.
Scent of blood
After weeks of vociferous attacks on several fronts, including the Obama healthcare proposals ("Obama-care" to the assembled crowd), American conservatives feel they are back on the front foot. Rightly or wrongly, they scent blood.
But behind the confident bluster, dark fears swirl. One delegate, Sue Phelps, drew comparisons between Barack Obama, Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler - "they were good orators too" - and said the president's nationality and religion were "unanswered questions".
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