As part of my ongoing effort to convince people that the religious right really isn’t bluffing, and that the Dobson/Perkins crowd really will break with the GOP if Rudy Giuliani is the party’s presidential nominee, Salon’s Michael Scherer reports that the same cast of characters who met in Utah last month are poised to meet again in DC this weekend.
Key conservative and religious leaders will continue discussing a mass defection from the Republican Party in a private meeting at a Washington hotel Saturday afternoon, just hours after the pro-choice presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani speaks before thousands of pro-life voters. […]
“There will be further exploration of what is to be done,” said Howard Phillips, the president of the Conservative Caucus, who participated in the Salt Lake meeting. “And there will be some discussion of who would be a viable independent candidate.” […]
Ever since the September meeting in Salt Lake, conservative Christian leaders have been increasing their public protests of a Giuliani candidacy, arguing that it would sever the coalition between evangelical voters and the Republican Party that dates back to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. “The establishment just doesn’t get it,” said Dr. Richard Land, a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention, in a recent interview. “I cannot vote for a pro-choice candidate as a matter of conscience.”
All of this is happening in the context of the “Values Voter Summit,” the year’s largest gathering for the religious right, which kicks off today in Washington. Every Republican presidential hopeful, including Giuliani, will be on hand to beg for votes explain their commitment to the movement’s cause.
But I think it’s Land’s quote that stands out as meaningful.
Surely Land realizes that it’s Republican voters, not the Republican establishment, who’ll choose the GOP nominee, but his reference to the establishment suggests one thing: his phone has been ringing quite a bit the last few weeks.
His Salon quote sounded like it came from someone who’s been having to repeat himself quite a bit. When Republican National Committee members call Land and tell him he has to stick with the GOP, even with a nominee who supports abortion rights, gay rights, adultery, and gun control, Land apparently keeps telling them he won’t. It’s why he thinks the “establishment just doesn’t get it” — insiders think he should be loyal to the party; Land thinks the insiders are confused.
Of course, Land, Dobson, Perkins, and the rest of the gang really don’t want to do this, which is why it’s looking increasingly likely that the religious right movement is coalescing around the one candidate they think is both credible and capable of beating Giuliani in the primaries.
James Bopp Jr., the legendary pro-life activist and attorney, has turned into one of the more effective surrogates for Mitt Romney and his pro-life conversion.
In a letter Bopp sent to hundreds of social conservatives this week, he agrees with fellow Romney adviser Mark DeMoss that unless social conservatives coalesce around Mr. Romney, the nomination is Rudy Giuliani’s to lose. With 100 days to go, Bopp writes with a sense of urgency. His e-mail was obtained from a Romney supporter.
Writes Bopp, “While several of the other candidates are certainly fine social conservatives, none has established his viability as a serious presidential contender. Only Mitt Romney has the resources to compete with Rudy Giuliani for the nomination.”
Bopp concluded his letter, “A divided field means that Giuliani is likely to win the nomination. This is our choice to make, and we don’t have long to make it.”
Stay tuned.