Courting the right: Right answers, wrong answers

by Mark Silva

In the courting of the Christian right, there are right answers and there are wrong answers.

And some of the Republican candidates for president, confronting a two-day screening by conservative voters that will culminate today with the results of a straw poll, are reminding this critical constituency that their rivals have given the wrong answers.

"I have been pro-life my entire political career," Sen. John McCain of Arizona told a ballroom full of social conservatives here Friday. Reiterating his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, McCain added, "You need only examine my public record to know that I will not change my position."

Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator, delivered the same message. Citing a "100-percent pro-life voting record," Thompson said, "That's who I was then, that's who I am today, and that's the kind of president I will be. … As president of the United States, no legislation will pass my desk that funds or supports this procedure [abortion] without my veto."

The problem, for many of the evangelicals and conservatives assembled here, is that some of the party's most prominent candidates cannot say the same thing. Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, supports abortion rights. Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, once supported abortion rights but has since switched positions.

For this critical constituency, the toughest question may involve principle versus pragmatism. Should religious conservatives embrace a candidate who hews to their vision of social values and "a culture of life," or reluctantly warm up to a candidate they believe can win? Someone, that is, who can promise that the White House will go, as one leader puts it, to "anybody but Clinton"—Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, whom many view as the most likely Democratic nominee.

"We’re not going to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton,’’ Romney told the assembly Friday night.

See the rest of the story in today's Tribune:

As Christian conservatives try to answer that question, the "Values Voter Summit," sponsored by the Family Research Council, is giving them the opportunity to scrutinize a full cast of Republican candidates.

These voters are not talking about the Iraq war. They are talking about abortion, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research. The verdict emanating from this hall could resonate among a powerful audience.

Thirty-seven percent of all Republican and Republican-leaning voters are evangelical Protestants, the independent Pew Research Center has found, and 43 percent say social issues will be "very important" to their vote in 2008.

Courting and turning out the religious right was critical to President Bush's election in 2000 and probably even more so to his re-election in 2004. And, now, movement leaders insist that a GOP nominee who meets their test on opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and other issues—including a strong foreign policy—will be essential to motivating like-minded voters in 2008.

"There is a line that we will not cross, and that is the issue of life," said Tony Perkins, the Family Research Council president.

That line could prove critical for the candidate who enjoys the most support among Republicans nationally: Giuliani, who alone among GOP candidates supports abortion rights. He plans to address this summit Saturday.

"I don't envision the majority of social conservatives actively moving toward endorsing a pro-abortion-rights candidate," Perkins said. "This issue runs strong, and just to sing the simple 'ABC song'—Anybody But Clinton—is not enough to rally social conservatives."

At the same time, Perkins downplays the talk by such fellow conservatives as Dr. James Dobson, leader of Focus on the Family, who warns that conservatives will rally around a third-party candidate if the GOP backs Giuliani.

"There is no desire to create a third party," Perkins said. "There is simply a statement that, if the party breaks ranks with social conservatives, there will be a number of social conservatives who break ranks with the party."

Giuliani's continued lead in the GOP polls presents an opening for the party's other candidates to stake a claim to the religious right. And they made the best of it.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) told the audience, "When conservatives run on principles, we win. When conservatives run away from principles, we lose. … Conversions are supposed to be made on the road to Damascus, not the road to Des Moines."

Thompson added, "I really don't know what I would do in my first 100 days. It would depend on the circumstances. … But I know what I would do in the first hour. I would go into the Oval Office and close the door and pray for the wisdom to know what is right." That won him a standing ovation.

One question underlying the conference, however, was whether the religious right has the same power as in the past. Giuliani's persistent lead suggests to some that the influence of these activists is waning. Others note that the evangelical community is focusing on topics beyond the traditional ones of abortion and same-sex marriage.

"The evangelical community is by no means monolithic," said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "It's not just social issues that they care about."

The quest for the evangelical vote is complicated by other hurdles as well. One-quarter of those evangelical voters surveyed by Pew say they are reluctant to vote for a Mormon.

This places Romney, a Mormon and a convert to the anti-abortion camp, in a difficult position here. Even if he convinces Christian conservatives of his sincerity on abortion, Romney will have to assuage others unsure about his religion.

And any nominee who runs hard to the right in the GOP primaries faces the challenge of tacking to the center by November 2008.

"Coming out of this values conference, whoever wins the nomination is going to see his words coming back at him next summer," said David Lanoue, political science chairman at the University of Alabama. "Anything they say in the primary is going to be used against them by Democrats in the fall."