The passions of conservative activists could be reshaping the Republican Party and complicating some 2010 re-election campaigns.

Indiana’s Mark Souder is among four House Republicans likely to face primary opponents drawing strength from the “tea party” movement and its fervent opposition to anything that might trigger higher taxes or bigger government.

Souder, first elected in the Republican wave of 1994, usually lines up with his party’s right wing. But he has angered some conservatives by endorsing earmarks for his district and by backing both the 2008 financial industry bailout (PL 110-343) and the expansion of the program to help recreational vehicle makers...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Sarah Bond’s outrage over massive deficit spending and debt is not a partisan matter for her. And it was enough to motivate her to travel from San Diego to Washington to let politicians know what she thinks.

“I’m here out of sheer frustration of spending from both parties, and this started with TARP,” Bond said, referring to the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, pushed by President George W. Bush and supported mostly by congressional Democrats.

Bond was part of a large crowd marching on Washington on Saturday. Adam Brandon, spokesman for Freedom Works Foundation, one of the main sponsors of the event, estimated the crowd at 150,000. But on Sunday, the group’s Web site estimated that hundreds of thousands of people turned out...

Conservatives within the Episcopal Church angered by the liberal views of the church's leaders plan to form a rival denomination.

The new Anglican Church in North America will include four Episcopal dioceses that recently split from the U.S. church, along with breakaway Anglican parishes from Canada.

The announcement comes after decades of debate over what Episcopalians should believe about issues ranging from salvation to sexuality. Tensions erupted in 2003 when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop...

A Republican senator from Mississippi believes it would be unwise for the new Congress and the new administration to overreach in an effort to enact radical change for the United States.

Right now Roger Wicker is the junior Republican member of the United States Senate; he won a solid election mandate (55 percent) from the people of Mississippi in the recent election. The former congressman's victory was one of a few tightly contested races won by the GOP. Wicker says if the Democrats try to shove an ultra-liberal agenda on the American public, there could be a serious backlash...

A conservative non-profit organization has completed a study that shows the liberal tsunami on Election Day 2008 was not because the country wanted to move radically to the left, but because voters wanted to punish Republicans for abandoning conservative principles.

A Mississippi senator who won a tough special election campaign says he won't
hesitate to use the filibuster to block any efforts by the Democratic-controlled
Senate to advance liberal legislation.

Roger Wicker's victory was one of the few bright spots in an
otherwise dismal election night for the GOP. Wicker, who was appointed to fill
Trent Lott's unexpired term, won the seat outright with 56 percent of the vote
against former Governor Ronnie Musgrove. As a member of what he calls the loyal
opposition, Wicker suggests he will work hard to keep the Democratic majority in
check...

Voters on Tuesday did not reject conservatism, a longtime conservative activist
said. “They rejected Big Government Republicanism in all its forms, including
the Bush administration and the Republican leadership in
Congress.”
 
Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, said the
Republican defeat in 2008 “can and will be laid at the feet of the Big
Government corporate Republicans who abandoned the Reagan coalition, massively
expanded government, and ignored the needs and values of regular, grassroots
Americans. They protected Wall Street and K Street and forgot about Main
Street."

The Republican National Convention is overflowing with social conservatives who care deeply about the pro-life cause. And - for awhile at least - some doubted John McCain's fervency for that cause.

"We had this situation where people were not sure, and then we had Saddleback, and then we had the platform, and then we had Palin, and it was just an explosion of excitement," said Kelly Shackleford of the Free Market Foundation...