Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposed Proposition 8, has openly hoped that courts will now overturn it and has encouraged opponents to “never give up.”

In the process, he’s ignited a battle within his own party.

Christian conservatives are using him as a foil, to claim that they, not the Republican governor, represent the party base.

That Schwarzenegger is “condoning street protests and supporting judicial activist scams to overturn a popularly approved state constitutional amendment approaches advocacy of anarchy,” said an action alert from the Family Research Council, which urges conservatives to contact Schwarzenegger’s office.

With Republicans out of power in both houses of Congress and the White House, party faithful are focusing on the future of the GOP. It’s a position that’s pitting some Republican moderates – including Schwarzenegger – against social conservatives.

Some GOP leaders believe the social conservatives are holding the party back. Christie Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bush, co-wrote a Washington Post opinion piece that said the party has been held hostage to social conservatives. She described Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s selection as Arizona Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential candidate as a “cynical sop to social fundamentalists, reinforcing the impression that they control the party, with the party’s consent.”

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Rep. Peter King of New York – all moderate Republicans – each won re-election in a tough year. Each has said the party needed to broaden its base. All three are under attack for saying so.

“What doesn’t work is drawing a harsh ideological line in the sand,” said Collins.

See Guv becomes target of conservatives

erry Cox doesn’t need flashy campaigns or a lot of money to “blunt the homosexual agenda” in Arkansas. He’s done it twice, and all he needs is a ballot box and a church bulletin insert.

Cox is president of the Arkansas Family Council, a relatively small religious organization that is dedicated to, among other things, thwarting civil rights for gay people. The Arkansas Family Council won an unexpected success for social conservatives on Nov. 4 when 57 percent of the state’s voters approved the “Arkansas Adoption and Foster Care Act,” a measure that banned unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children. The measure applies regardless of sexual orientation, but was designed to target gay couples.See Ark. adoption ban could start national trend, activists fear Sovo.com