Michele Bachmann will be among the presidential candidates to attend the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Kickoff Rally at Florida’s Presidency 5 in Orlando on Thursday.

According to a statement released by her campaign, Bachmann “will discuss the importance of holding true to the conservative principles from which our country was founded including limited government, free markets, strong national defense, and protection of the sanctity of life, marriage and family.”

The Faith and Freedom Coalition is the brainchild of former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed. Similar to the Christian Coalition, the group has set up affiliates in states like Minnesota, Iowa and Florida.

The groups focus on opposing LGBT rights and lobbying for laws that restrict access to abortion as the Coalition did in the 1990s, but FFC has also added a fiscal element to its agenda and has been active at attracting tea party activists.

In Florida, the FFC took over the former Christian Coalition chapter.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our members, invited guests and Floridians to meet and greet our elected officials and presidential candidates,” Reed said in a statement announcing the event.

Reed also produced a video invitation for the event:

The rally coincides with the Florida Presidency 5 event also being held in Orlando on Thursday. The event will feature a presidential debate broadcast on Fox News.

Also attending the rally before the debate are Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman of Utah, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

The Minnesota Faith and Freedom Coalition (MFFC) is lending its voice to the battle over a constitutional amendment limiting marriage between a man and a woman in Minnesota. The group, founded by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, has already gotten GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and state Sen. Warren Limmer involved in their efforts on the ground in Minnesota. The group’s staffers have a long history of activism, especially around the issue of same-sex marriage.

MFFC is part of Reed’s national Faith and Freedom Coalition. He describes his group, which backs state and local affiliates around the country, as evolving, a “21st Century version of the Christian Coalition on steroids, married with MoveOn.org, with a sprinkling of the NRA.”

“This is not your daddy’s Christian Coalition,” Reed told US News and World Report in 2009. “It’s got to be more brown, more black, more female, and younger. It’s critical that we open the door wide and let them know if they share our values and believe in the principles of faith and marriage and family, they’re welcome.”

The group will host a policy briefing in October on the Minnesota anti-gay marriage ballot measure, featuring former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer and the chief author of the ballot measure, Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove.

Since its inception, the group has quickly staffed itself with Republican and conservative leaders. It’s also started organizing Christian conservatives and making friends with tea party groups in the state.

FFC hosted a roundtable of 30 conservative activists in April 2010 that included Michele Bachmann and Sen. Limmer.

A few months later, in August 2010, the group’s registration was accepted by the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.

Some of the staff of MFFC have a great deal of political experience, others very little.

Terrie Myers is a classically trained artist. She helped organize pastors and tea partiers in 2010 to get out the vote and attended an October 2010 meeting of the Southwest Metro Tea Party to give a presentation. Myers was a small donor to Emmer ($50) and a slightly larger donor to Bachmann ($500). She’s an organizer for the group.

Carol Schulstad, MFFC’s president, introduced Bachmann at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in June in Washington, D.C.

“She has been fearless to stop President Obama’s left-wing lies that are destroying America, and she remains fearless in her critics as her critics in the left-wing media attempt to assassinate her character,” she said. “Now, besides fearless, I must make a mention that as she is defending our faith and our freedom and her constituents and the cause for the conservatives of America, she is also serving her husband, her five children and her 23 foster children.”

She added, “And who would have ever thought that she would have carried the issue of traditional marriage to the level that she has today.”

Schulstad was a candidate running against Rep. Betty McCollum in 1998 under the Minnesota Taxpayer Party. Schulstad garnered 2 percent of the vote.

But perhaps the most active of the MFFC officers is Gary Borgendale, the group’s vice president and a longtime proponent of an anti-gay marriage amendment in Minnesota. Borgendale was Local Ministry Director for KKMS, a conservative Christian radio station. Before that, Borgendale was the executive director and lobbyist for Minnesota for Marriage, a group that pushed for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the ballot in 2012.

Borgendale was an alternate delegate for John McCain at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He says he backed McCain because of his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Before his support for McCain, Borgendale was the chair of Minnesotans for Huckabee and conducted outreach to home-schooling families. He’s also listed as a precinct chair with the Senate District 51 Republicans.

In 2005, Borgendale organized the “Minnesota Pastors’ Summit,” an event that made headlines recently for its connection to Michele Bachmann. Her husband, Marcus Bachmann, gave a presentation called “The Truth About the Homosexual Agenda.”

The theme of the 2005 summit was “Equipping Churches to Engage Culture,” and also included controversial author David Barton and Colby May of American Center for Law and Justice, a legal outfit created by Pat Robertson.

“As pastors, you are on the forefront of this cultural conflict. Activist judges, political leaders and secular media are trying to dictate faith’s role in society. However, we can reverse that trend through a unified commitment to biblical principles in our communities,”Borgendale said. “Same-sex marriage, civil or otherwise, does not extend the right to marriage to other individuals, it fundamentally redefines marriage for everyone.”

Beyond marriage, Borgendale has been outspoken against the LGBT community. In a July 2007 interview (MP3) with KKMS (where he would later become an employee), he said, “The homosexual agenda issue is not going away by any means.” He added, “There’s an effort to put this in the public school settings even down to kindergarten. The agenda being pushed whether it be the business community the public schools or even the church.”

He said that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy and pedophilia.

“It is a slippery slope because polygamy is now very high on the radar screen. You have what is this show ‘Big Love,’ there was this polygamy rally,” he said. “There’s also moves about lowering the age of consent, there’s different pedophile organizations that are moving forward on that same regard — NAMBLA — it is there so that slippery slope is really coming forth.”

He said that he also opposes any relationship recognition for same-sex couples including civil unions and domestic partnership benefits.

“Civil unions and domestic partnerships starts creating a legal status,” he said. “We want to stay away from anything that creates a legal status. The opposition has tried very hard to create that beachhead by creating the establishment of some relationship that is (sic) recognized.”

He said, instead, that same-sex couples could have access to “a list of 8 to 10 items” such as survivor benefits so long as it was open to everyone including “life-long friends or siblings.”

He was a speaker at several stops on theNational Organization for Marriage’s Summer for Marriage tour in 2010.

“For my family and my children, I had to get involved,” he told a small crowd in St. Cloud. “One person can make a difference. If God is calling you, be involved. Answer the call.”

Also in the MFFC is John Henderson, who joined the group after a long career in business management.

He told MPR in June that the marriage amendment was intended to protect the Christian definition of marriage.

“It’s for the protection of marriage in the Judeo-Christian tradition of one man and one woman,” Henderson said. “And there is, quite frankly, the possibility of this law being overturned by judges.”

Henderson explained MFFC’s mission in Minnesota. “Build chapters throughout the state. Recruit members and make certain that the conservative, social-minded individuals fully understand the issues at hand,” he said.

“Our goal is to influence public policy and enact legislation that strengthens families, promotes time-honored values, protects the dignity of life and marriage, lowers the tax burden on small business and families, and requires government to tighten its belt and live within its means.”

The Minnesota Faith and Freedom Coalition, part of a network of groups created by religious right icon Ralph Reed, is hosting a strategy session on the ballot measure to put a ban on marriage for same-sex couples in the Minnesota Constitution. Former gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer will emcee the October event, and Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, the lead sponsor of the amendment, will give the keynote speech.

According to the group’s release on the event, which will be held at a Bloomington hotel Oct. 7:

The Marriage Amendment will be addressed by chief author, Senator Warren Limmer. Additionally, Minnesota Congressional Representatives, Bachmann, Cravaack, Kline and Paulsen will be awarded the prestigious ‘Friend of the Family’ award for their voting record in 2010 – 2011 legislative session. The Strategy & Briefing session will kickoff the GOP’s 2011 Midwest Leadership Conference at the Doubletree Hotel, Bloomington, MN.

The group notes that Republican legislators Bachmann, Cravaack, Kline and Paulsen have not confirmed their attendance at the event.

The Minnesota Faith and Freedom Coalition is part of a network of state-based 501(c)4 groups founded by Reed in 2009 to re-energize the religious right. Reed was the head of the Christian Coalition in the 1990s and was a leading figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal. According to emails released in the Abramoff case, Reed secretly accepted funds from Abramoff to oppose Indian gaming in the South.

“We need to be hipper, more technology savvy,” Reed said when he launched the coalition in 2009. “This is where the culture is going and we need to be there if we’re going to compete.”

Reed is hoping to get the group operating in all 50 states. He will also be a featured speaker at the Minnesota event.

At this weekend’s Faith & Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., Rep. Michele Bachmann told attendees she was pleased that a constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex couples from marrying in Minnesota would be on the ballot in 2012.

Bachmann gained political notoriety in 2004 and 2005 when she aggressively pushed to have the amendment on the ballot even as Republicans were in the minority in the state Senate at the time. In her speech, Bachmann called for similar amendments in every state that does not yet have one. Bachmann said she was “at the tip of the spear” on the issue.

The Faith & Freedom Conference was put together by one-time associate of Jack Abramoff and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed. The conference drew leaders from anti–gay rights and anti–abortion rights activists as well as a number of potential presidential candidates.

Bachmann spoke about her role in pushing the amendment in 2004.

“Others took that torch and they carried on and just a week ago last Saturday evening Minnesota finally passed the constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man, one woman,” she said. “And so Minnesota is the first state that has decided this issue will be on the ballot in 2012. The state of New Hampshire, I understand, will be taking this issue up as well and other states.”

She added, “This is the time.”

In addition to speaking on gay marriage bans, Bachmann took a swipe at Planned Parenthood. “We’re giving money to corrupt organizations like Planned Parenthood that is committing crimes and enabling young, minor girls. I don’t even want to talk about it because it is so disgusting. This organization has by their own records performed 324,008 abortions in 2008 and 2009, and that’s in addition to the trafficking of underage girls that has gone on under Planned Parenthood’s nose.”

Despite Bachmann’s claims, no evidence has surfaced that Planned Parenthood is involved in child trafficking. One employee was fired last year when undercover video by an anti–Planned Parenthood group showed an employee appearing to give advice to a fake pimp who said he was in control of minor girls.

Here’s a transcript of Bachmann remarks on the anti-gay marriage amendment:

There’s a lot of bad news that’s going on around the world but there’s a lot of good news that is going on in the world too and I want to talk to you about a few of those things.

When I was at the Minnesota State Senate, we had started a project not because we wanted to but because we were acting in response to an action by the Massachusetts judicial Supreme Court.

Does anyone remember the decision in 2003 that the court issued? They issued a decision that told the state legislature that the legislature had to pass a law in conformity with the will of the justices. Does anyone remember what that decision was about? Do you remember? It was about marriage. It had something to do with redefining marriage.

I had heard that in Minnesota and new it would come our way as well, and so i announced that I was going to introduce a constitutional amendment that would allow the people of Minnesota to vote on the laws that they live under, particularly the definition of marriage, whether marriage would be between one man and one women. And that’s a good concept.

People were, as you can imagine, this was the height of the controversy and I was at the tip of the spear on that effort and the reason I bring that up is because I say to you persevere, persevere, and never despise small beginnings because we were just a few people that had gotten together and tried to make this happen.
And this bill that I introduced, we began with, we were not able to get it out of the liberal dominated Senate that I was in. We tried, we tried again, we weren’t able to succeed.

But we didn’t give up because we knew the people of Minnesota ultimately wanted to be able to vote on this bill.

30 different states have put this bill up. Every time states have put this bill before the American people they have voted in their states to retain the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one women. And though I am no longer in the Minnesota State Senate, I am privileged to be able to serve the people of the 6th district in the House of Representatives.

Others took that torch and they carried on and just a week ago last Saturday evening, Minnesota finally passed the constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man, one woman. And so Minnesota is the first state that has decided this issue will be on the ballot in 2012. The state of New Hampshire, I understand, will be taking this issue up as well and other states.

This is the time, and so I want to encourage all of you at home; if you don’t have a similar amendment, consider this in your home states. I believe this is the time to do it so I just want to say thank you to those who have continued to carry the torch.

Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty are among a long list of presidential hopefuls attending the Faith & Freedom Conference and Strategy Briefing this weekend in Washington, D.C. The conference is organized by Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition and controversial religious right leader. In addition to Reed, Bachmann and Pawlenty will be sharing the stage with a number of controversial figures from the anti-abortion rights and anti-gay rights movements.

Reed led the Christian Coalition in the 1990s and stepped down as a scandal inside the organization was brewing. He then ran for the office of lieutenant governor in Georgia, but his ties to Jack Abramoff’s gambling scandal created huge hurdles for Reed and he lost the election.

Tom Schenk of Faith & Action will give Friday evening’s prayer. In 1992, Schenk was arrested after he threw a fetus at then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton. He has repeatedly questioned President Barack Obama’s Christian faith.

Speaking just before Bachmann will be Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, an anti–gay rights groups recently listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The SPLC has criticized Perkins for his past connections to white supremacy groups and his use of false data to impugn gays and lesbians.

Gary Bauer of American Values will also speak at the conference. He ran the Family Research Council before Perkins.

Also on the speakers list: Jay Sekulow a religious right attorney with a huge salary; Renewing America’s Jim Garlow, who likens fighting gay marriage to battling the Anti-Christ; and Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. Land recently said that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell opens America up to God’s punishment.

Tim Pawlenty and two other potential 2012 presidential candidates, along with some of Iowa’s leading Republicans, will be in attendance for the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Spring Event on March 7.

The group, which is the Iowa arm of Ralph Reed‘s national organization, announced Monday that former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will attend. In addition to the potential presidential hopefuls, Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and conservative U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) will also be attending the event.

Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and a veteran Republican strategist, founded the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition last March. Formerly known as the Iowa Christian Alliance, the group vowed to be an influential voice in Iowa politics and the Iowa Caucuses, with Reed saying if he could raise $500,000, Hawkeye State politics would be changed for the better.

Santorum was its first guest, followed in October by U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). Shortly before the November election, the group ran a TV ad attacking U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa). Its local leader, Steve Scheffler, is also one of three Iowans serving on the Republican National Committee.

The event is set to take place at Point of Grace church in Waukee. The church’s pastor, Jeff Mullen, garnered headlines last year when he launched two websites aimed at convincing pastors to preach in opposition of three state Supreme Court justices up for a retention vote. Many believe his actions violated federal tax law, which forbids 501(c)3 organizations, including churches, from intervening in elections in support of or opposition to any candidate.

The new organization will feature Reed as the group’s head, and St. Martin will run the day-to-day operations.

“This is not your daddy’s Christian Coalition,” Reed told U.S. News and World Report. “It’s got to be more brown, more black, more female, and younger. It’s critical that we open the door wide and let them know if they share our values and believe in the principles of faith and marriage and family, they’re welcome.”

St. Martin got his start in Minnesota politics, most notably in 1990 working for then Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in his campaign against Paul Wellstone. He has a long history of working in Republican and religious-right circles, including past jobs as Director of the Grassroots Development Division at the Republican National Committee, National Field Director for the Christian Coalition and Executive Director of Americans of Faith.

Reed says the new version of the Christian Coalition will be grassroots driven — which is why he and St. Martin are currently the only paid staff.