Republicans Verify Their Conservative Credentials

Oct 19, 10:00 PM

Current Headlines: WASHINGTON _ Republican presidential candidates jockeyed Friday for the support of reluctant Christian conservatives, taking up the torch of family values and promising to keep Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the White House.

In a major test to woo evangelicals, White House hopefuls sought to break through as the consensus candidate of Christian conservatives, who have been lukewarm about the GOP field.

"I'll match my record of defending conservative principles against any other candidate in this race," said Sen. John McCain of Arizona. "You may not always agree with me on every issue, but I hope you know I'm not going to con you."

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson took aim at Mitt Romney, who has moved to the right on abortion and gay rights since serving as governor of Massachusetts.

"Over eight years on national issues, I was a consistent conservative," said Thompson. "That's who I was then. That's who I am today. And that's the kind of president I would be."

Romney highlighted differences with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a liberal on social issues, which has made him anathema to many religious conservatives.

"We're not going to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton," Romney said.

Giuliani is scheduled to speak Saturday to the gathering of some 4,000 Christian evangelicals sponsored by the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group, in Washington, D.C. Also speaking Friday will be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor.

Evangelical Protestants are a key Republican voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 but have yet to coalesce around a presidential candidate in the current race.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said he anticipates that will begin to happen this weekend with a straw poll today.

"You're probably going to see two, possibly three candidates emerge this weekend with strong support," said Perkins. "I don't think there will be a clear-cut values voters candidate, but I think it will be a first step."

He said any of the candidates would be acceptable to the vast majority of evangelicals _ except Giuliani, who is alone among the GOP field in supporting gay rights, abortion rights and gun control.

"It's not his crowd," Perkins told reporters.

Perkins repeated the warning of influential radio host James Dobson that if Giuliani were to become the Republican nominee, many Christian conservatives would bolt the party.

"If the party abandons its ground on defense of the unborn, we're not going to be part of that retreat," he said. "And if it comes to looking for a third party to support as a last option, we're willing to do that."

Romney, whose Mormon faith has made some evangelicals wary, implicitly sought to dismiss the notion that his religion is repelling Christian conservatives. He received a warm reception Friday, with a standing ovation.

"I'm pleased that so many people of many faiths have come to endorse my candidacy and my message," he said.

Romney's religion has become a point of contention among the religious right. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, told his congregation that Mormonism is a false religion and Romney is not a Christian.

"Even though he talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult," Jeffress said in a Sept. 30 sermon.

Perkins said Friday he does not believe Romney's religion is a stumbling block to winning support from evangelicals.

East Texas evangelist Rick Scarborough, who is attending the conference, said Jeffress was stating a widely held Christian view about Mormonism.

"I would have to agree with him theologically," said Scarborough, who heads the Christian voter-registration effort Vision America. "But I would have to say, if Mitt Romney got the nomination, rather than vote for Hillary, I would vote for him."

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