2008 GOP field disappoints some conservatives

Mark Murray Deputy political director

WASHINGTON - A year ago, few could have predicted that the three front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination would be a U.S. senator who favors embryonic stem cell research and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a governor who twice campaigned on defending abortion rights, and a former mayor who not only supports gay rights but moved in with a gay couple -- and their pet Shih Tzu -- after the breakup of his second marriage.

But after the Republicans' midterm losses, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani have emerged as their party's presidential favorites, according to public polls, GOP insiders, and Washington pundits. And stunningly for a party that has championed conservative social issues -- like opposing abortion, banning gay marriage, and restricting embryonic stem cell research -- not one of these front-runners is a bona fide social conservative.

"There is no George W. Bush in the field," says one neutral GOP strategist, referring both to Bush's wide appeal in 2000 and his conservative views. That worries some on the right.

"Right now, we're very concerned about it," says Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the conservative Free Congress Foundation. Adds Charmaine Yoest, vice president for communications at the Family Research Council, "There is a certain lack of excitement at the moment."

A look at their records
To see why, just look at the front-runners' records on social issues. McCain, for example, opposes abortion, but he rarely talks about it and once even said during his first presidential bid that he wouldn't support the repeal of Roe v. Wade because that would force women in America to undergo "illegal and dangerous operations". He also co-authored the Senate legislation that would create a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants and give them a path to citizenship. And he voted for legislation to expand funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Romney, moreover, campaigned for the Senate in 1994 and governor in 2002 on protecting a woman's right to have an abortion. "On a personal basis, I don't favor abortion," he said in 2002. "However, as governor of the Commonwealth, I will protect the right of a woman to choose." Also in 2002, Romney stated he would "work and fight" for embryonic stem cell research.

Interactive Analyzing the 2008 presidential field

Giuliani, meanwhile, has been a consistent supporter of abortion rights, more federal funding for stem cell research, and civil unions for gays. Indeed, in what could further enrage some religious conservatives, he marched in gay-pride parades as mayor, appeared in drag for a skit at a 1997 black-tie dinner, and even moved in with a gay couple in 2001 after the end of his second marriage.

That kind of record makes Yoest of the Family Research Council shudder. "I think Rudy Giuliani should run against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary," she says. "The Republican base, the conservative base is not going to go for somebody like [him]."

Tilting to the right
Yet with their eyes on the upcoming GOP primaries, which are dominated by conservative voters, all three of the front-runners have begun tilting to the right. In the past year, McCain said he supported (with some caveats) the South Dakota abortion ban that state voters overturned in November, and gave the commencement address at Liberty University, which was founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, whom McCain once called "evil" during his White House bid in 2000.

Most recently, McCain received an endorsement last Friday from Marlys Popma, a conservative GOP activist in Iowa, who previously served as the president of Iowa's Right to Life Committee and as deputy national political director for 2000 presidential candidate Gary Bauer. In a press release announcing the endorsement, Popma said she was supporting McCain, in part, because of McCain's "willingness to sign pro-life legislation."

Romney now calls himself pro-life and favors leaving it up to the states to determine the legality of abortion. He also now opposes embryonic stem cell research and has asked his state's highest court to force an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment onto the ballot in 2008. And in May, Giuliani stumped for former Christian Coalition honcho Ralph Reed, who lost his bid to be Georgia's lieutenant governor due in part to his ties to convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  

Still, to think that not a single true social conservative is among the current front-runners for the GOP nomination, you would have wondered if the political world had turned upside down.

In a way, it has.

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