Ballot Boxing: Another pro-life moment for Fiorina

Welcome to Ballot Boxing, WORLD’s weekly political roundup with news, views, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the 2016 presidential campaign.

First up this week, Republican candidate Carly Fiorina barnstorms South Carolina, Iowa, and New Hampshire after a command performance in the second GOP debate bumped her into third place in the crowded field, according to polls. (Meanwhile, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulled nearly even with Donald Trump for GOP frontrunner status.)

In Spartanburg, S.C., Fiorina dropped by the Carolina Pregnancy Center last week, and the former Hewlett-Packard CEO found herself wedged in a small room with a dozen reporters (including this one) and a pregnant young woman undergoing an ultrasound. The woman, Lacey Thomas, was a gracious client who volunteered to help demonstrate the center’s services.

It was an unusual moment for a campaign stop, but a very effective one as the physician (volunteer Dr. Mary Haddad) asked Thomas if she’d like to hear her baby’s heartbeat. With the press of a button, the sound of a loud whooshing and an insistent, “THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD,” filled the room.

Fiorina smiled, and used the word “he” (not “it”) as she asked Thomas questions about her unborn son, due in February.

Some of the journalists on hand waxed cynical about the moment, but the live image of the unborn baby boy put an exclamation point on Fiorina’s ongoing throttling of abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood. On the way out, the candidate passed a well-appointed baby shop with donated items for moms in need, with a bright blue wall bearing a hand-painted Bible verse: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord …”

Consider this vignette a sneak peak—look for more on this visit, and Fiorina, in an upcoming issue of WORLD Magazine.

As Fiorina toured early voting states, Donald Trump swung by home for a meeting billed as a private gathering with “evangelical leaders.” It turns out the closed-door conclave at Trump Towers in New York City was organized by Paula White, a prosperity gospel preacher whose ministry bought a Gulfstream II jet for about $1.5 million in 2006.

(Christian rapper Shai Linnecalled out White and other prosperity gospel gurus in 2013 in a song called “Fal$e Teacher$.”)

It makes sense that promises of financial abundance would sit well with Trump, a candidate who has boasted tirelessly of his massive wealth during his presidential campaign. But teachers like White don’t teach the true Christian gospel. Trump—who claims to be a Christian but says he’s never asked God for forgiveness—desperately needs to hear that spiritual riches are found in repenting and trusting in Christ’s atonement for sin, and that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit.

Trump did make a pit stop in Washington, D.C., Friday at the Values Voter Summit, an annual gathering of evangelicals and social conservatives hosted by the Family Research Council. Trump drew some applause, but he also drew some clearly enunciated boos from the crowd when he took a pot shot at GOP opponent Sen. Marco Rubio, calling him “a clown.”

Meanwhile, Rubio, climbing in national polls as Trump’s numbers have stalled, took the high road after he interrupted his own speech at the event to inform his audience that House Speaker John Boehner had just announced his resignation. When the crowd erupted in applause and a standing ovation, Rubio demurred, saying he wasn’t there to “bash anyone,” and calmly moved on with his remarks.

Sen. Ted Cruz wasn’t as gracious. “You want to know how much each of you terrify Washington?” the GOP candidate said as he grinned to the Values Voter audience. “Yesterday, John Boehner was speaker of the House. Ya’ll come to town and somehow that changes. My only question is: Can you come more often?”

Whatever the senator’s opinion about Boehner, it seemed an off-putting display of glee only moments after the resignation of a fellow congressman and a member of his own party who served the country for nearly 25 years. Still, it drew delight from the crowd, and Cruz won the gathering’s straw poll for the third year in a row.

Last week I offered a reminder about trusting God’s providence in all things, including national affairs. This week, here’s a gem from Charles Spurgeon, urging Christians to take up our part in God’s work in the world through prayer:

“Prayer is one of the necessary wheels of the machinery of providence. The offering of prayer is as operative in the affairs of the world, and the production of events, as the rise of dynasties or the fall of nations.”

Remember: We want to hear from you. Have a tip or something you’d like to know more about in the presidential race? Leave a comment below or email me at jdean@wng.org, and we’ll keep your concerns in mind as we report.