This was supposed to be easy. The Republicans, as usual, would be able to harness the votes and the grassroots fervor of the Religious Right while never paying more than lip service to many of their core demands, demands that would perhaps be unappealing to the libertarian and pro-business elements of the party. This is the way it’s been for decades, at least until the 2004 elections, where the “moral values” were given almost total credit for getting George Bush re-elected.

With that taste of power still fresh in their mouths, those voters now want their due. No longer content to sit on the sidelines and take whatever the Republicans give them, the Religious Right is now demanding obedience from the rest of the party…or else.

The most obvious example of this is the Terri Schiavo circus, where angry protesters are threatening revenge against Governor Jeb Bush if he doesn’t break a court order to rescue the brain-damaged woman. Another example was the intense backlash against the pro-choice Arlen Specter’s nomination as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But one of the most telling instances of this Religious Right power grab is happening right now in Ohio, where Christian Conservatives are mounting a campaign to basically take over the Republican party on all statewide levels.

“The establishment of the Ohio Republican Party is out of touch with its base,” said Russell Johnson, the pastor of the Fairfield Christian Church and the principal organizer of the project. “It acts as if it lives in Boston, Mass.”

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“We’re very confused that you have a Republican Party platform, and yet people running for higher office pay no attention to it,” said Phil Burress, the leader of the Issue 1 campaign, who is also helping organize the Restoration Project. “Why don’t they just become Democrats?” he asked.

Ouch. You would think that the religious types in the Buckeye state would be satisfied, considering that they were able to change the state’s constitution to outlaw any form of legally recognized gay relationships (and—in the process—completely gut the domestic violence laws for all unmarried couples. Whoops). But that’s just a stepping stone for the ambitious Ohio Restoration Project, which plans to mobilize 2,000 churches in order to take control of local Republican organizations and elect favored candidates to Government offices.

Republican officials are watching warily. The chairman of the state party, Robert T. Bennett, warned that the decade-long dominance of his party could be jeopardized if it was pushed too far to the right. “This is a party of a big tent,” Mr. Bennett said. “The far right cannot elect somebody by itself, any more than somebody from the far left can.”

Probably not, but they sure as hell can try. And that’s when the so-called “big tent” gets ripped from its moorings, leaving scattered groups behind to sort the whole mess. For years, we have admired the Republicans for being able to hold together a strong coalition of seemingly-disparate elements: states-rights advocates, libertarians, religious conservatives, chest-beating war enthusiasts and pro-business groups. It’s a delicate balancing act, and one wonders how they will manage to keep it going when the religious types start re-writing the party in their own image.