In French Revolutionary terms, the split in Iowa demonstrates the clear division in the Republican party between the 1st and 2nd Estates. The First Estate being the established power structure, in this case the wealthy corporate interests that benefit from de-regulation and targeted tax incentives and subsidies they are positioned to lobby for. Not much headway can be made with this group.
The 2nd estate is the Church, not the faithful or the religious themselves, but specifically the church.
And this is a distinction we need to exploit.
We can't and won't make much headway with the 1st Estate. They are honestly advocating for their best interests. They would, as a group, benefit from conservative government. It would keep those in power, in power.
The 2nd estate however, is different. The issue isn't with the people of faith, but rather with the Church. Much as Martin Luther was not attacking Christianity, we must make the distinction that the issue is with the structure, not the tenets.
The Church, as opposed to the faithful, are correct to see government as a threat. A foundation of the church, historically, is service to the needy in exchange for participating in the church. A primary argument of the faithful against government comes from a belief that providing for the needy without requiring them to participate in the faith undermines the family.
But really, it undermines the Church. It removes the historic dependency on the Church for services, as historically when few options existed and you fell on hard times, you became faithful to receive services. Worse those not of the faith could not do business with those who were, virtually assuring hardship.
This is the cycle that feeds the church.
But again, and importantly, we must separate the Church from the faith. The tenets of all religion call the faithful to care for those in need, to help those less fortunate. They teach peaceful approaches to conflict, etc...
In short, they teach liberal values.
What Iowa showed was that when the "Church" organizes and endorses, currently the faithful follow.
So again, I go back to Martin Luther, who called out the corruption of the Church by pointing out the hypocrisy of it's leaders unethical behaviors. We need only look to Santorum himself for a perfect example.
At it's core the faith is liberal. Only the church is conservative. The Church is entrenched power that benefits from continuing the status quo. The faith is progressive, seeking the betterment of mankind.
Let us separate the two in our arguments going forward.