In the aftermath of the Values Voters Summit in Washington this weekend, there's been a bit of a shakeup in the "God-o-Meter."
There was no update on John McCain. He didn't get much support from the Christian conservatives in their straw poll, either. One has to wonder if McCain's pandering to the religious right has backfired.
Mitt Romney stayed where he was, which was at the top. Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee and even Rudy Giuliani went up slightly, perhaps from the exposure of speaking to the summit attendees.
There have been no updates recently on the Democratic side.
A week ago, Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard was saying that Giuliani needed to make a serious commitment to the pro-life position when he spoke to the social conservatives. Now, Barnes is saying that Giuliani made inroads with Christian conservatives with some of the things he said yesterday.
Apparently, that "inroads" assessment conveniently overlooked the fact that Giuliani got less than 2% of the vote in the Values Voters Summit straw poll. Giuliani doesn't seem to be building a groundswell of support among Christian conservatives for his candidacy.
By the way, the Philadelphia Inquirer has an interesting observation or two about the Republican race.
And Steven Greenhut of the Orange County Register sees the libertarian and conservative factions that Ronald Reagan brought together in the 1980s splitting apart.
Such a split was inevitable, without a charismatic force like Reagan to keep them together.
Showing posts with label Values Voters Summit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Values Voters Summit. Show all posts
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Romney, Huckabee Favorites At The Values Voters Summit
Republicans have been gathering in Washington this weekend to appeal to Christian conservatives at the Values Voters Summit.
There never really was any question that abortion would be a hot topic at the summit.
And former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani deserves credit for facing up to his stated position, which isn't very popular with Christian conservatives. Giuliani is pro-choice, and he didn't walk away from that position to win some votes.
"Isn't it better that I tell you what I really believe instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?" Giuliani asked his listeners.
The sentiment was admirable, but not successful.
Even though Giuliani spoke about his own faith and his reliance on religion being "at the core of who I am," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished first in a straw poll of Christian conservatives at the Values Voters Summit, receiving 1,595 votes (27.6%) from 5,775 that were cast online, in person or by mail.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came in a close second with 1,565 votes (27.1%), Texas Rep. Ron Paul was third with 865 votes (15.0%) and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was fourth with 564 votes (9.8%).
The remaining 20% were divided among the other Republican candidates. In that group, Giuliani received just 102 votes (1.8%).
Based on that, it appears that Giuliani has considerable work to do to convince Christian conservatives to support him in both his bid for the nomination and, if successful, his bid to win the general election -- even though Giuliani tried to reassure the restless Christian conservatives by telling them that he would appoint conservative judges, support school choice and demand victory in Iraq.
Those are all issues that are important to Christian conservatives -- but it appears that abortion remains the No. 1 issue with that voting bloc.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who emphasized his own conservative credentials and his opposition to abortion, appears to be increasingly irrelevant to the presidential campaign. He received only 81 votes (1.4%).
Among those who voted in person at the summit and heard all the candidates speak, Huckabee, who criticized the "holocaust of liberalized abortion," was the clear choice, receiving 488 of 952 in-person votes (51.3%). Romney received 99 in-person votes (10.4%).
It's odd that Romney should win the overall vote, based on his support for the anti-abortion cause. His original position was pro-choice, but he has switched to pro-life since deciding to enter the presidential race. Romney also has some work to do to persuade Christian conservatives that Mormons are Christians. About half of Christian conservatives polled are unconvinced.
On the Democratic side, there's some news from Iowa. The Storm Lake Times endorsed Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for the presidency, following Biden's recent visit to the small town of Storm Lake in western Iowa. The newspaper told its readers that Biden has the "professional skills and ... the personal strength" to be president.
There never really was any question that abortion would be a hot topic at the summit.
And former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani deserves credit for facing up to his stated position, which isn't very popular with Christian conservatives. Giuliani is pro-choice, and he didn't walk away from that position to win some votes.
"Isn't it better that I tell you what I really believe instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?" Giuliani asked his listeners.
The sentiment was admirable, but not successful.
Even though Giuliani spoke about his own faith and his reliance on religion being "at the core of who I am," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished first in a straw poll of Christian conservatives at the Values Voters Summit, receiving 1,595 votes (27.6%) from 5,775 that were cast online, in person or by mail.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came in a close second with 1,565 votes (27.1%), Texas Rep. Ron Paul was third with 865 votes (15.0%) and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was fourth with 564 votes (9.8%).
The remaining 20% were divided among the other Republican candidates. In that group, Giuliani received just 102 votes (1.8%).
Based on that, it appears that Giuliani has considerable work to do to convince Christian conservatives to support him in both his bid for the nomination and, if successful, his bid to win the general election -- even though Giuliani tried to reassure the restless Christian conservatives by telling them that he would appoint conservative judges, support school choice and demand victory in Iraq.
Those are all issues that are important to Christian conservatives -- but it appears that abortion remains the No. 1 issue with that voting bloc.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who emphasized his own conservative credentials and his opposition to abortion, appears to be increasingly irrelevant to the presidential campaign. He received only 81 votes (1.4%).
Among those who voted in person at the summit and heard all the candidates speak, Huckabee, who criticized the "holocaust of liberalized abortion," was the clear choice, receiving 488 of 952 in-person votes (51.3%). Romney received 99 in-person votes (10.4%).
It's odd that Romney should win the overall vote, based on his support for the anti-abortion cause. His original position was pro-choice, but he has switched to pro-life since deciding to enter the presidential race. Romney also has some work to do to persuade Christian conservatives that Mormons are Christians. About half of Christian conservatives polled are unconvinced.
On the Democratic side, there's some news from Iowa. The Storm Lake Times endorsed Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for the presidency, following Biden's recent visit to the small town of Storm Lake in western Iowa. The newspaper told its readers that Biden has the "professional skills and ... the personal strength" to be president.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Whither Goest the Evangelical Vote?
We've been wondering which candidate would earn the allegiance of the evangelical voters.
In today's Washington Post, we found the answer we had been expecting, really.
No one.
All the Republicans covet the evangelicals' backing, but each has a shortcoming -- or two -- that gets in the way of closing the sale.
The Post spoke to Chuck Colson of the Prison Fellowship, a national Christian ministry. Colson's assessment: "Nobody has rung the bell yet."
There's a certain irony to the idea of the Washington Post quoting Colson, who spent time in prison for what he did in service to the president, Richard Nixon, who was driven from power by the Post's investigation into Watergate.
At the time of the Watergate break-in in 1972, Colson was a conniving chief counsel for Nixon, known as Nixon's hatchet man who was responsible for drafting the memo that served as the basis for the infamous Enemies' List.
It's also ironic that Colson's quote should appear in the Post on this date -- the 34th anniversary of the famed "Saturday Night Massacre" when Nixon ordered the dismissal of the special prosecutor, leading to the resignations of the attorney general and his top assistant.
Four weeks later, in defending his actions in a nationally televised press conference, Nixon uttered one of his most famous sentences, "I am not a crook."
Colson became one of the famed Watergate Seven, along with H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and John Mitchell, who were indicted for their roles in the scandal.
That was 30 years ago. In the last three decades, Colson has developed a reputation as a leader among evangelical Christians.
It's interesting, also, that the New York Times' David Brooks thinks former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee might be the most acceptable candidate to all the factions in the Republican Party.
As a former Baptist minister, Huckabee would appear to have a natural "in" with evangelical voters. But he doesn't seem to have registered with them yet.
Patrick Ruffini, writing in Town Hall, thinks the Republican Party may have hit rock-bottom and is due for a rebound.
So whoever wins the allegiance of evangelical Christians has the advantage in the race for the nomination. And that nomination may turn out to be more valuable than it appears to be right now.
In today's Washington Post, we found the answer we had been expecting, really.
No one.
All the Republicans covet the evangelicals' backing, but each has a shortcoming -- or two -- that gets in the way of closing the sale.
The Post spoke to Chuck Colson of the Prison Fellowship, a national Christian ministry. Colson's assessment: "Nobody has rung the bell yet."
There's a certain irony to the idea of the Washington Post quoting Colson, who spent time in prison for what he did in service to the president, Richard Nixon, who was driven from power by the Post's investigation into Watergate.
At the time of the Watergate break-in in 1972, Colson was a conniving chief counsel for Nixon, known as Nixon's hatchet man who was responsible for drafting the memo that served as the basis for the infamous Enemies' List.
It's also ironic that Colson's quote should appear in the Post on this date -- the 34th anniversary of the famed "Saturday Night Massacre" when Nixon ordered the dismissal of the special prosecutor, leading to the resignations of the attorney general and his top assistant.
Four weeks later, in defending his actions in a nationally televised press conference, Nixon uttered one of his most famous sentences, "I am not a crook."
Colson became one of the famed Watergate Seven, along with H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and John Mitchell, who were indicted for their roles in the scandal.
That was 30 years ago. In the last three decades, Colson has developed a reputation as a leader among evangelical Christians.
It's interesting, also, that the New York Times' David Brooks thinks former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee might be the most acceptable candidate to all the factions in the Republican Party.
As a former Baptist minister, Huckabee would appear to have a natural "in" with evangelical voters. But he doesn't seem to have registered with them yet.
Patrick Ruffini, writing in Town Hall, thinks the Republican Party may have hit rock-bottom and is due for a rebound.
So whoever wins the allegiance of evangelical Christians has the advantage in the race for the nomination. And that nomination may turn out to be more valuable than it appears to be right now.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
What Giuliani Needs to Do
Fred Barnes, in an article in The Weekly Standard, says Rudy Giuliani needs to demonstrate to social conservatives that he's committed to an anti-abortion posture when he speaks to the Values Voter Summit in Washington next weekend.
Polls have shown that more than a quarter of Republicans would vote for a third-party candidate who has the support of social conservative leaders if Giuliani is the Republican nominee.
Some social conservative leaders, like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Gary Bauer of American Values, are speaking unfavorably about Giuliani's social conservative credentials and his efforts to score points with social conservatives, such as his pledge to appoint "strict constructionist" justices to the Supreme Court.
As Barnes points out, Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but enough people voted for Ralph Nader in Florida to deprive Gore of that state's electoral votes -- and, thus, swung the state and the election to George W. Bush (with the help of the mostly Republican-appointed Supreme Court).
A mass defection on the scale that polls are suggesting almost certainly would doom Giuliani in the general election, Barnes says.
It's a reasonable argument. But I think there's another question that social conservatives who have supported the Republican Party need to ask themselves.
The Republican Party has had an anti-abortion plank in its platform since 1980. In nearly 28 years, we've had 7 presidential elections, and Republicans have won 5 of them. Republicans controlled the Senate from 1981 to 1987, and Republicans controlled both houses of Congress from 1995 to 2007.
With all those Republican office-holders -- who, apparently, owed their elections in part to the anti-abortion movement -- why has nothing been done on this issue?
That's not something that can be blamed on Giuliani.
Even if social conservatives defect to support a pro-life candidate, they've already had all the cards on their side for many years -- and nothing has been done.
What else did they need?
Polls have shown that more than a quarter of Republicans would vote for a third-party candidate who has the support of social conservative leaders if Giuliani is the Republican nominee.
Some social conservative leaders, like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Gary Bauer of American Values, are speaking unfavorably about Giuliani's social conservative credentials and his efforts to score points with social conservatives, such as his pledge to appoint "strict constructionist" justices to the Supreme Court.
As Barnes points out, Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but enough people voted for Ralph Nader in Florida to deprive Gore of that state's electoral votes -- and, thus, swung the state and the election to George W. Bush (with the help of the mostly Republican-appointed Supreme Court).
A mass defection on the scale that polls are suggesting almost certainly would doom Giuliani in the general election, Barnes says.
It's a reasonable argument. But I think there's another question that social conservatives who have supported the Republican Party need to ask themselves.
The Republican Party has had an anti-abortion plank in its platform since 1980. In nearly 28 years, we've had 7 presidential elections, and Republicans have won 5 of them. Republicans controlled the Senate from 1981 to 1987, and Republicans controlled both houses of Congress from 1995 to 2007.
With all those Republican office-holders -- who, apparently, owed their elections in part to the anti-abortion movement -- why has nothing been done on this issue?
That's not something that can be blamed on Giuliani.
Even if social conservatives defect to support a pro-life candidate, they've already had all the cards on their side for many years -- and nothing has been done.
What else did they need?
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