Is Dobson's Political Clout Fading?

On Wednesday night, his political action website Citizenlink.com released assessments of the major Democratic and Republican candidates.

A stealth Mitt Romney endorsement from the religious right's powerbrokers?

Focus Action Candidate Commentary

At the age of 71 and semi-retired from the day-to-day operations of his organization, Dobson is seeing Focus on the Family 's fortunes wane - CEO Jim Daly describes them as "flat" - perhaps an inevitability for a ministry pegged to one towering figure. The ministry's expenses have exceeded its revenues for two years - what Daly calls a "drawdown from reserves" - by $4.1 million in fiscal year 2006 and by $9.9 million in 2005. (Figures for 2007 have not yet been released.) The ministry apparently has been "flat" for some time. For example, in 1994 Dobson's monthly newsletter had a circulation of 2.4 million copies. Today, that circulation is about 1.1 million.

According to news accounts and audited financial reports posted online for potential donors, the organization's staffing is down (30 layoffs last September). Total donations and number of donors are down as well. Focus orders and resells copies of Dobson's tapes and books, which are the evangelist's personal business; but those purchases have declined from $678,000 in 2004 to $269,000 in 2006. His last book was published in 2001; another is not anticipated until 2009. The whole Dobson family, including wife Shirley, daughter Danae and son Ryan, produce books and tapes, but revenue from all Dobson-family materials are down, from $781,000 in 2004 to $307,000 in 2006.

Even Focus on the Family Action - Dobson's most recent project, founded in 2004 to help steer public policy - seems stalled. Daly says Action's fortunes are tied to "hot issues in the public square"; in his letter to potential donors, Dobson offers "occasional specific voting recommendations on ballot measures in your area and on a national level." But contributions declined from $8.8 million in 2004, its start-up year, to $6.8 million in 2006, while website hits fell from 18,000 monthly in 2005 to 8,700 monthly in 2006. A Focus spokesperson says Focus Action is not the main public policy website and that CitizenLink.com, where the candidate assessments were announced, is doing much better.