And in adopting a neocon foreign policy, he rallied most conservatives behind his ambitious agenda, a dramatic turnabout in opinion from the 90's.
Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, said today that Republicans did not rally enough religious conservatives to the polls in last year's presidential race.
Taft denounced his old friend and rallied conservatives to defeat him for the 1912 GOP nomination.
Senate Republican leaders have scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment in June, partly as a means of rallying conservatives.
Although Goldwater had been successful in rallying conservatives, he was unable to broaden his base of support for the general election.
The disagreement underscored the balancing act confronting Republican leaders seeking to rally passionate social conservatives behind a nominee while casting the candidate as moderate and middle of the road.
Every Republican not named Mitt Romney coveted the opportunity to rally social conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts.
In 1980, he helped organize a similar gathering in Dallas that was widely credited as a force in rallying Christian conservatives around Ronald Reagan.
He rallied religious conservatives to the political arena at a time when most fundamentalists and other conservative religious leaders were inclined to stay away.
He is successfully rallying both Evangelicals and conservatives and may finally by the anti-Romney so many in the GOP are waiting for.