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Futhermore: A blog by Gannett News Service Political Editor Chuck Raasch

Cultural conservatives still searching

Three leaders of the social conservative movement sat down for a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters this morning, and their take on the Republican presidential field in 2008 was a microcosm of the struggles social conservatives are having getting excited about any of the candi-dates.

The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins predicted that the Republicans would not nominate a pro-abortion rights candidate like Rudy Giuliani, and said a Giuliani candidacy would be "a ticket for Hillary Clinton to win the White House."

American Values' Gary Bauer, a 2000 presidential candidate, was less declarative about Giuliani's chances. Bauer, who eventually supported Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. in 2000, was more blunt about the challenges facing McCain in 2008.

McCain gave a scathing 2000 primary speech in which he denounced conservative religious leaders such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance." In his campaign for the 2008 nomination, McCain has sought to mend fences with many of those leaders.

"Senator McCain is a friend of mine and I wish him well," Bauer said. "But the speech in Virginia Beach, which was widely reported as not an attack on Robertson and Falwell but as an attack on Christian conservatives getting involved in politics, hurt him a great deal. …I think you could argue it effectively ended his chance at getting the nomination. It was widely reported through the Christian media and talked about on Christian radio, and people would certainly tell you that it left a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of people whose support he now solicits."

Bauer said that McCain is "obviously" more conservative than Giuliani on social issues that conservatives care about, but "there isn't anything comparable in Giuliani's rhetorical record where he went after Christian conservatives… I do think that is a factor in holding (McCain) back right now."

Bauer also said that ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney "is spending a lot of time trying to convince people that (he has) had a road to Damascus and not a road to Des Moines experience, and is in fact pro-life and socially conservative on these other issues."

Prison Fellowship's Mark Earley said the excitement recently about a possible Fred Thompson candidacy exposed a "vacuum" in the GOP field. "People are still looking, and that is beyond social conservatives right now," he said.

Posted By CHUCK RAASCH, GNS POLITICAL WRITER on April 11. 2007 11:26AM
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Chuck Raasch is political editor for Gannett News Service. His column, Newpolitics, appears here and on USA TODAY.com. A native of South Dakota and a graduate of South Dakota State University, Raasch has covered political campaigns since 1978, including Tom Daschle's first race for Congress and George McGovern's last race for the Senate. He has covered presidential campaigns since 1988.

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