Implied Observer has a great piece on whether the Christian Right in America made a tactical error by not backing Huckabee.
I broadly agree with the article’s argument: the public leaders of the Christian Right damaged themselves by not only failing to back the candidate who was “their guy” ideologically (Huckabee) but further by actively backing a candidate who lost convincingly.
The impact? We used to believe that the Republicans needed a nominee approved of by the Christian Right in order to stand a chance of contention for the Presidency. If McCain wins, which despite present polling is far from certain, this received wisdom will be overturned and those leaders’ significance reduced.
So yeah, I think daranee’s right; this was a considerable mistake on their part.